Thanks for the follow man! Really appreciate it!

I totally agree with the outlets from poker. I think I over did it in May and could have possibly played less, but that's why I try to keep my monthly volume goals at 60 hours. Can knock that out 3 days a week at 5 hour sessions or even just 2 at 8 hour sessions. My girlfriend gives me a good respite, and I have a few friends also who just don't do anything with poker.

I am finally back from my week long hiatus from the city. It was a pretty neat time, getting to see how things work in a different city and just letting my hair back. The only time I thought about poker was during the long car rides, having one earphone on and listening to podcasts. Other than that, it was poker and work free.

We did have a chance, as we were going through Louisville, to pay our respects to the greatest. The monument outside of the Muhammad Ali Center.



The first couple of days were spent in Nashville. I was utterly surprised; there is no casino poker anywhere in Tennessee. Seriously? So much more hipster than I would have thought. Seemed like a cool city, went on Broadway and bar hopped for a night. This is the view of downtown from the 3rd floor balcony of some bar.



The last three nights were spent in Gatlinburg. Popular resort area for the great lakes region. The view was incredible, staying in a 4-story, $500,000 mountain-side cabin overlooking one of the biggest mountains in the Smoky Mountain chain. Like, we just don't get this kind of view here in Ohio.



Sadly, the group wanted to stop at a few too many souvenir shops than I wanted. We're in the mountains, let's explore them! We did on the last day, and my god was it worth it.




I did get to do some old man thinking every morning looking at that mountain view. All it did was confirm to me that I have to try this. There has to be more to life than selling your soul for a weekly or bi-weekly paycheck. I have to try. And I also have to explore the world a little more.

Holy hell after 2 1/2 weeks with not a single hand of poker, I was extremely rusty. I did study a couple of days before vacation and one day after, but that was it. And the rust showed imo. Just one example, BTN good, solid player straddles. One limp, MP makes it $10. MP is a maniac. I flat TT in HJ. This is a spot, especially with him having just $100, I need to 3bet and play IP against the fish. What happens is I'd 3bet to like $35, he'd call, and then I'd jam on the Q54 flop.

There was also another hand where I had thought about pulling a 3bet squeeze with KJs OTB, but didn't. I think it's a great spot against an MP raiser and CO flat. I flat instead, BB makes it $45, folds to me. I decide not to tango with this hand, as I have hands that play better multiway here I can flat with (65s, T9s, 66, etc).

I really kind of hovered around the $400 mark for the first two and a half hours. Nothing all that exciting. I did make a nice call down against the maniac with KQ on AK545 board when I checked flop IP, he bet small OTT and bombed the river with 66. Then this hand popped up. 7 handed, I raise A9 UTG to $10. 5 callers (yes, this table was very loose). I start with $440, MP straddle guy from above calls.

Flop ($60): 942
Checks to me, I bet $40. MP straddle guy raises to $125. BTN goes AI for way less. Folds to me.

So I've seen this guy make this move before. He's been aggro preflop and postflop. There is one combo of 99 left. 6 of 22/44. Those are the only hands I'm worried about. I know he views me as tight and definitely capable of folding, so his raising range can be wider than normal. So maybe some other flush draws, PP somewhere around the 9. I wind up just jamming. I think it's a mistake. All I need to do is call $85 into like $270 to see the next card. But then I might have to face that jam, and my whole hand equity gets thrown out the window. I'll have to do some studying away from the table with this hand later. He calls.

Turn: 5
River: J

And I scoop the $900 pot.

My stack fluctuates a bit for the next 1 1/2 hours. I make a nice read based call down with AQ in a 3bet pot on QJ684. Loose player 3bets me for the second time, I flat OTB. He cbets to $30 on the QJ6 flop. Instantly bets $100 on the 8 turn. The instantly makes me believe he's just on a bluff with AK/AT/TT/KT etc. He checks river and shows AK (the river was the third diamond, don't think I can get value)

As I said, definitely very rusty after not playing a single hand for so long. So this session was much needed to get me back into the groove of playing and right my thinking process.

4 hours
+$560

Solid sesh man

Haha thanks man! The results were pretty, the game was definitely rusty. Good to knock that stuff off and book a nice win

Got a decent session in last night. Would have been longer had my friend not wanted to go see Finding Dory like an hour after she sent the text. Yes, I was equally excited about seeing the movie. It was pretty good, a regular Disney movie. Don't think anything can compare to the original Finding Nemo though.

But something sort of clicked yesterday pokerwise while I was playing. I can't describe it, but it just sort of happened. Definitely along with the hand reading practices that I've been doing the last month or so. Here's an example. Two limps, I raise AJo no spade to $11 in SB, BB and UTG+1 calls.

Flop ($35): 478
I bet $21, they both call.

I'm cbetting this because while their range hits this more than mine, their range doesn't hit it hard enough. There are plenty of 98, 76, spades, T9, 66 type of hands that are calling one (or two) that aren't comfortable calling a triple.

Turn ($98): 4
I bet $55. This might be a bit on the smaller side, probably should bet closer to $65. This card is a fairly big blank. But, it doesn't really help any of the hands that are calling the flop bet. Even though it is multiway, I do plan on barreling high card non-spade rivers. Unfortunately, they both call.

River ($263): A
Non-spade is a small value bet. This is just a check/fold. I check, checks around, UTG+1 shows 86ss for the win. BB said he had a small overpair.

Ok, so let's say river is Q. I bet $150, they're both folding. J? Both fold. K? T? But they both roughly had the hands I thought they did, and they both would fold to river bets on those good cards. And if BB had something a little worse (76), he may just fold the turn, leaving us HU and UTG+1 folding on all blank rivers.

I also made a nice 3bet with K6s against an overly active villain, some squeeze plays, some nice bluffs. It just felt different. I didn't have any value hands, I pounced on weakness. Something just clicked, and I wound up leaving the table with an almost $1,000 stack.

BUT before that, I lost a $450 pot with AK < AA AIOTT 79K5 double suited. 6 handed, I opened UTG, UTG+1 called, BB 3bet small, we both called. I called flop bet and just jammed over his turn bet. UTG+1 said he folded AJ, so.....1 combo. Also lost another $200 pot with KK when a bad player OOP floated AQo on a 7267 board to a double barrel and hit an A OTR.

BUT we also won a $250 high hand early on in the session. So I bought in for the max that I bring, and wound up cashing out for $1,212, a $412 profit on one of the better sessions that I've ever played. I'm also thinking about taking a small shot at the 2/5 game. My BR is just $200 shy of 20 100bb BIs.

6 hours
+$412 ($250 promotion)

Nice thread op. Take a shot for sure.

Thanks! Try to keep it entertaining. I wound up not playing Saturday. My gf called me like an hour before wanting to do whatever and so there went my time. I will at least put myself on the list tonight. Get a shorter session in, kind of see what and how 2/5 plays before super diving into it.

I wanna see this movie for nostalgia but i don't wanna go to the movies alone :l (don't have many friends either)

Anyways take a shot @ 2/5 maybe if you earn x amount for the week or feel that this month you've achieved your monthly goal/amount.

It was tough for me to take shots @ 2/5 because i didn't if i could beat it at the time the best way to overcome this is to play online and just beat the micros and start playing small stakes then you will crush 2/5 w/o a doubt and you won't need as many BI's.

Get on tinder, have a picture of you with a dog, get a chick and ask her to go out to finding dory. She will say yes for sure!

Thanks for the advice! I actually did the online portion first lol. Slightly winning at micros, studied hard, started crushing micros, went to small stakes, slightly winning there, studied hard again, and started...I wouldn't say crushing but winning at a nice rate.

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

It's weird being in front of a computer and me not being at work. I did take that 2/5 shot last night. The biggest difference I noticed immediately wasn't skill level. I'd say there were (excluding myself) 3 winning players and 5 losing players at the table. It was the stack size....in BB! I've been starting out at 1/2 playing 150-200bb deep to start out, and all of a sudden I'm back to starting at 100bb. So these speculative hands go way down in value, and I'm looking at overpairs in a single raised pot with 5 callers as almost gold.

Anyways, I did play like 2 1/2 hours of 1/2 last night before they called the 2/5 game. Lost $12 but was absolutely card dead the whole time. There were only 2 interesting hands the whole night, both at 2/5 and both against the same player.

This same player I've played with the most at the casino. He's a very friendly guy. Kind of loose/passive preflop and a bit more aggro postflop, likes to check dark and put people on AK. He is to my direct right. 3 limps to him in SB who raises to $35. I look down in BB at QQ and raise to $95. We're ~$450 deep. Folds back to him who almost instantly says "All-In". So I think for a bit. He decides to give me a hint and line his two cards with his card protector, which is a metal A card. He let's me flip a card over and it's, ironically, the A. I fold. He shows the other A. And when he went all-in I did mutter "it's a good thing I don't have kings here." Because I'm definitely going broke there with KK.

So what I want to figure out about this hand is, if it's even good for me to 3bet in the BB? It's weird to say with a hand like QQ, but given how this player plays....

Let's give him a raising range of AJs+, AKo, 99+. The 99 might even be a little generous. My hand is 57% against that range. But what is he calling the 3bet with? I'm saying AK, QQ and JJ. I know that he is capable of folding some big hands, and would not be surprised in the least of him folding TT. Now we're at 62% against his calling range. There are 23 combos of those hands. On the flop (going by flopzilla numbers) I'm 71% to have the best hand. If an A or K comes, I'm not putting a dime more in. If a J comes, there is a good chance that if he has JJ, I may go broke. For simplicity sake, let's use the 71% of the time, I'm winning $115 when he calls. 29% of the time, I'm losing $90.

So the times he has AA/KK? I guess I'm losing $90 100% of the time. He is not the type of player to slowplay a hand like AA or KK. And I don't believe he is ever 4bet jamming AK. So then the 3bet is literally attacking his middling range, the one above of JJ/QQ/AK. With 55 combos....

.363(55)+.418(.71(115)+.29(-90))+.218(-90) = +$55.90

Pretty much because his fold to 3bet range and his 4bet jam range, EV wise, cancel each other out IF he has 99/TT/AJs/AQs in his SB raising range. Even if he doesn't have that in his range, the formula just loses the first portion and his calling range becomes 2/3 of his SB raising range. It's still +EV, but only +$5.63

If I flat against that range if it's just the JJ+, AK, then there are a lot more moving variables and parts, including players left to act, not having the aggression, etc. I think if we do a mathematical analysis (which I don't know where to even begin with players left to act) then flatting might even be -EV by a good chunk even though I'm risking less. So I guess 3betting is correct in this spot.

The second interesting hand...I raise JJ UTG to $16 preflop. I'm told by the dealer that the $1 chips don't really play, and it had to be $15. Did not know that. 3 callers.

Flop ($60): 976
BB checks to me, I bet $45, all fold except BB who checks dark.

What I've noticed when he checks dark is that usually he is holding some sort of draw. So non hearts, T, 8, or 5 would be spectacular.

Turn ($150): J
That's good too, wasn't especially banking on that card, but we're here now. I bet $90 and he calls.

When he smooth calls again, it seems like he may have the heart draw. I put a bit less weight into the 8x, but that's possible as well. He is for sure raising any sets and two pair I believe on the flop or the turn. FWIW, I'm getting the money in on the turn if he check/raises. I don't think he plays 85, leaving just T8 combos of hands that beat me.

River ($330): 5
He checks. ****. So if I think two pair/sets are raising flop or turn, the straight just got there and is no doubt a scare card...what is he calling a river bet with? I have ~$230 or so remaining. I didn't have the J...maybe KJ, AJ? I check back. I think I am good a majority of the time, but I don't think he calls anything here that I'm beating. MHIG.

5.58 hours
+$200 (3.5 hours, +$212 2/5)

I've officially made $10,000 from playing poker. Which doesn't sound like a lot, and honestly there is a small chance I could make that between now and the end of this year. But it's a neat little milestone for me, starting from that little $200 deposit on Bovada.

Anyways, played both 1/2 and 2/5 today. Thankfully I ran terrible at 1/2. I was picking up pots, being aggressive. But I got 3-outered AQo < AJo AIPF for a $200 pot and 2-outed JJ < 88 AIOTF 733 for another $200 pot. Nothing really interesting happened there otherwise.

All of the interesting hands came at 2/5. I'm too tired to post those interesting hands, but here's the gist of it:

-2 hand flopped nut straight, doubled against ???
-Called a large river bet with just an A because I narrowed my opponent down to just 2 value combos
-Bluff jam very next hand with pair + FD OTT, get called and have the best hand????
-Oh, flop the nut flush and double up against a player I thought was good but wound up having like a 100VPIP/80PFR and making weird, horrendous calls everywhere.

8.75 hours
+$425 (-$54 1/2, +$479 2/5)

It's great feeling to have made 5 figures from playing cards. Congratz man

Btw what happened to that chip stack challenge we had lol?

Thanks! Our chip stack challenge....May was easily the worst month I've had results wise, so I really didn't have any chip porn stacks. Whereas 1k is enough for 1/2, I think it has 2k or more for 2/5 chip porn worthy.

While I'm stuck here in traffic on my way to a baseball game, I might as well go over the big hand from Wednesday night. So villain is a young Asian guy, friendly, aggressive. I'd say he knows his poker. We're about 800 effective. He views me probably as a bit on the tighter side.

Folds to me in CO. I see A9 and raise to 15. Villain in SB calls.

Flop (35): A7J
He checks, I bet 20, he raises to 70.

His raising range can be very wide here I suspect. JX, 7x, some straight and bdfd, some naked fd, etc. I elect to call.

Turn (175): 8
He checks. I think with whatever value hands he has, wouldn't he bet? So in my mind, I elect to make a peculiar play. I bet 80. I can have Ax, spades but I think his range is weak. So I want a larger portion of it to call incorrectly. While I think this player is good, if I'm check/raised here I can comfortably fold. How often is a double check/raise a bluff? He calls.

River (335): 7
He leads for 250. I tank. In my mind, only one hand makes sense that beats me: J7s. But there are only two combos of it. Think he 3bets AJ and A7 preflop. JJ as well. So if he only has 2 value combos, I literally one combo to make it a call. Also, having the 9s is a blessing and a curse. Curse because he couldn't have that with his bluffs, blessing because it takes away a lot of his bdfd and gutshot bluffs.

So I call after thinking aloud "there's just 2 combos of J7 that beat me." Sure enough, he flips over J7.

So this brings up a whole host of questions. He either somehow already has respect for my game and knows my thinking process. Or he thinks I'm a fish and will call down with any ace. I mean, I'm not wrong for thinking that if someone has a super super narrow value range in a spot, and they're repping it, that I should be calling this? I think the call is ok, but I'm definitely interested in hearing some thoughts about both the hand and thinking process. I could be swayed that I shouldn't have made the call.

Last night was more exciting than it should have been. Plan was to play until 9 and just 1/2. I had noticed there was a 2/5 game going on bravo, but thought nothing of it. Well, I got there and the 2/5 looked hella fine. So I got on the list and played 1/2 for about 10 minutes before being called.

Anddd I didn't win a pot for the first 2 hours. I think my mind was trying to over adjust to playing with 100bb rather than 150 or 200. I feel more comfortable at that stack size even though I have probably 500k or more hands online at 100bb. Anyways, only a few hands really stuck out to me. One I know i played bad.

First, a big rec player straddles otb. Loose aggro raises to 35. I look at QQ in BB. I just flat, 500 effective. That's a mistake. Folds to who I think is a competent player. He raises to 65. Maniac cold calls otb. SB calls. Mistake 2. I 4bet to 165. I don't think it's the 4bet that's awful, I think it's the sizing. I need to go more I'm pretty sure if I'm going to do it. All 3 call. So now I know i have the best hand preflop.

Flop (660) K 7 4
SB checks. This is not a good flop 4 way. Competent player has AK in his flatting range. I'm not getting any K to fold. I just check and fold. Maniac bets 105, the other two call. Gets to showdown with like a 1300 pot, competent player wins with TT, just a pair.

So competent player had about what I thought he had. Maniac could have had literally atc. SB...his range was more unknown. Now, would I have called down given the way the board ran out? I'm not sure.

This other hand, 5 limps to me otb who has T8. I limp, sb limps and bb checks.

Flop (40) T95
Checks to me. I bet 25. Is this ok? There is a ton of stuff that can call but won't bet. My hand is also vulnerable. Maybe go a little larger? Competent and maniac call.

Turn (115) 5
Checks to maniac who bets 75. Seems a little odd. He can have a 5, he is that bad. But also draws and stuff. I.call, competent calls.

River (340) A
Nothing gets there. Maniac bets 200. I fold. Nothing gets there, but A hi flush draws make a pair. And who knows, maybe that's what this guy is betting.

I get down to 250ish (in for 700), get a double up, then start talking to this reg. I mention that this game isn't that much tougher than the 1/2. So I'm finally back to even. And this hand happens. One limp, I see A9s in HJ and raise to 20. BTN reg 3bets to 65. I had been paying attention. This guy was particularly active on his btn. BB meh player flats. Not too worried about him. Limper folds. Perfect spot for me to 4 bet bluff. And so I do to 225. BTN folds, BB hems and haws and folds. And I show.

I've stopped showing hands because I don't want to give off information. But this had a purpose. I wanted to shake this nit image that I knew I had from the table and show that the money didn't affect me.

3.58 hours
+$243

I have to say that last night was easily the most comfortable I've felt at the 2/5 table. Yes, there were like 3 regs there, but I've kind of figured who to play pots with and who to avoid.

Only one hand of note from my perspective. There was a btn straddle, one limp, I raise QQ no club to 50. Asian player from J7 hand a few posts back makes it 125. We're about 1k deep. So first, my thinking is "do I 4 bet? What happens if I'm 5 bet?" The truth is, I don't know. If I 4bet, it's to like 250, giving a 1 spr. I'm also in early position, so there is a good chance he knows I should be high in my range. I flat. I think if I had like AK or really most Ax, I'm 4betting. AK would be a GII, hands like an AT could be good bluffs.

Flop (270): Kc 9c 5x
Not the greatest flop in the world. I check. He bets a chunky 175. I fold.

I'm not too infatuated with how I played the hand. So if I'm 4betting AK, it leaves really KQ and 99 that connect with this flop. Meaning he should cbet almost his entire 3betting range and auto profit. QQ may be borderline then between a call and a fold. So if it's borderline, I guess I have no problem for now tossing it into the muck until I have a higher BR to explore those slightly + or - EV situations.

Nothing else super interesting really happened. Oh, I did chop a 600 dollar pot running it twice with my flopped nut flush against top two. I won the first, he hit his boat on the river in the second.

4 hours
+510

What a roller coaster ride yesterday was. I played two hours of 2/5 before switching over to 2.5 hours of 2/2 PLO. Only two real interesting hands for the 2/5.

First one, effective stacks 500. Two limpers, I raise TT to $30 OTB. An unknown, but get a reg type of vibe feeling from him, 3bets to $125 in SB. Folds back to me. I know I can't profitably call here. I mean, he can have some 99/88 that he does this with, but flatting a 3bet with TT is essentially hoping for a T to spike or 3 low cards. So IMO it's either 4bet or fold. Stack sizes make it weird too. If I 4bet, do I make it $250 with a 1/2 PSB left for flops? Do I just jam? I personally don't like any of the options here. I think jamming may be only slightly +EV, maybe even on the negative side. So I folded.

Second hand, one UTG limper $550 effective. I raise T8 to $25 in HJ. Meh SB player and unknown UTG calls.

Flop ($80): 922
Checks to me, I bet $45, SB calls.

He can float so wide here it's not funny. 9x, 88, 77, diamonds.

Turn ($170): Q
SB checks. This is a good card for me. I pick up even more outs if I'm behind. I bet $100. He almost instantly raises to $215.

So now what? Is he floating a hand like QT on the flop with two overs and BDSD? Does he really have a 2 (I don't think so)? He can have 99 here and Q9, but there are so few combos of the 99 at least. So I put him on some Q that doesn't want to see another card, hands with very little SDV...basically, I think his range is weak. So I jam for like $400 total. If he has Q9, the toppest of his range, I still have 25%. He tanks and folds.

Unfortunately, it was a lot of missed flops and getting 3bet at the wrong time with very marginal hands. Did eek out a $11 profit though for 2 hours

Then I decided to try 2/2 PLO. It's a fun game. We also played 1 hand of 2/2 PLO8. We we're going to play a round of each (which would have been awesome) but the newest player at the table was like "I don't want to play that ****." Buzzkill. But I did scoop an AI pot with the first and only hand, AAK2, we got it AI on 63JK rainbow. River is a 2 and counterfits his J3. So I had 8, 7, 5, 4 for low outs, A, K, 6, 2 for hi outs.

Also got coolered very hard. QJ85 < 77XX on a Q7565 board where he flatted my flop and turn cbet, then minxr the river bet. Like, seriously? I have the fourth nuts, block the absolute nuts, and there wasn't any indication of a 77. More likely he has 57 or 56 than 77. Literally 3 hands after that, he racked up and left. Ratholing scumbag. But still left the game with a small profit also!

And this means that I went 7-0 in the month of June, even if it's just barely.

4.5 hours
+$35 (+11 2/5, +24 2/2 PLO)

It's been a whirlwind of a weekend! Makes today feel that much better. Anyways, I did play two sessions over the broken up 3-day weekend. First one was a standard 8 hour session, but it felt very short. Maybe I'm gaining some stamina Not too much to tell about the 1/2 time, up like $50 in an hour and a half.

2/5, as usual, is where it got interesting. I slowly ground up to about a $900 stack. A few big wins as well and more aggression from me. Then a huge hand. I see AA in MP and raise to $20. BTN 3bets to $65. Previous hand, he also 3bet me, I flatted TT in MP, called a cbet on J29, x down J t 9 river and mhig. So I decide it's a good spot for me to 4bet. I 4bet to $175. He flats. He has about $500 behind.

Flop ($357): 952
I bet $195, he calls.

Turn ($747): 7
I jam for the remaining $300, he calls and shows...99. WP...I guess? Damn, teach me how to flat 99 and flop top set in a 4bet pot.

So that one stung. Would have been close to a $1700 stack. But I'm never finding a fold or expecting a set on that board given the improper implied odds. Then another big hand. I'm about $500 effective, one limper, loose player raises to $20. I flat 87 in HJ. 3 other players call, including a meh CO straightforward.

Flop ($102): K96
Checks to me. Everyone seems disinterested, so I bet $60. CO raises to $160, folds to original raiser who jams for like $300. I'm never folding. I re-jam, CO folds. OR shows KK, so worst case for me, I'm only 40%

Turn: 2
River: T

Or I could just get there both ways.

Then a sick hand that I may have misplayed. 2 from leaving, I open KK in UTG+1 to $20. UTG+2 (99 player) flats. MP 3bets to $115. Folds to me. So about MP. I had 3bet him earlier, he's definitely a reg in the room and probably the most frequent of the 2/5 players. I decide to 4bet to $225. UTG+2 folds, MP calls.

Flop ($477): A87
Really? I bet $250. He jams. I tank and tank and fold.

I don't like this hand. I think the 4bet is fine. His range isn't as wide as it could be imo, so he's fairly value heavy here. On the flop, what AX do I have? AA? Am I 4betting AK of any kind here, about 200bb deep? It's definitely possible, but think it's better in my flatting range. So the flop doesn't hit me nearly as hard...unless I have some 4bet bluffs, as to which the 87 would hit me. But I don't think he thinks I have 4bet bluffs (which he would be right at this time, but let's re-visit in a couple of months). He can flat AK. He can flat AA. But he can also jam KdKx, QdQx because I shouldn't have many Ax hands.

That's why I tanked. I wanted to call so badly after thinking that way. He isn't jamming AxKd which is half of his AK range. AA, yes, but I don't think he is just flatting the 4bet all the time and my range is so strong I'm likely to ship it in against a 5bet. Which is why I think his range is a lot of QdQx, JdJx, KdKx, and the like. So...I think it might just be a call. If he is thinking that way.

Sour taste in the mouth after that, but I shake it off. 8 hours -$467

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

Yesterday, then, was the BS session. I played exclusively 1/2, and I'll probably stay at 1/2 a bit for now while I start tweaking my game a bit. So this was a fun hand, one of the few of the day. We're 5 handed at a tight passive table, so I raise T3 from UTG+1. BTN calls, a meh player.

Flop ($19): 743
I bet $13, he calls.

He can have a very wide range, and I'm planning on barrel almost every overcard, non clubs, etc.

Turn ($45): T
Well then. I bet $25, he jams for $80 total, I call. He shows A6, and my hand holds.

And then it all turned to hell. I open AA to $8 in CO. Tight, weak, capable of folding player 3bets to $23. We're about $500 deep. I flat the 3bet. I do this for a couple of reasons. 1. I've seen him 3bet/fold before. 2. He can't handle pressure. 3. He isn't 3betting me super light, but I know if I 4bet him he will literally fold up to QQ.

Flop ($48): 22K
Great flop. He bets $35, I flat. No reason to raise and fold out bluffs, not many bad cards.

Turn ($118): K
Except that one. He bets $60, I call reluctantly.

River ($238): 7
He bets $100, I sigh tank-fold and he shows a K.

He is never triple barrel bluffing me there.

And then this hand, there is one limper and I raise AK to $10. SB raises to $30. He's a bit tight but very well may be tilted because I've been raising him a lot. I flat.

Flop ($64): K85
He checks, I bet$35, he raises to $100, I flat.

Very reluctantly again. Right now just AA and KK beats me, but he could have a hand like AQss, AJss, etc.

Turn ($264): 8
He checks, I check

River ($264): 4
He checks. I really think about betting, but I just check back. I think this player would definitely bet the river with an As for fear of me checking back. He shows AA ftw.

And lastly, just a wtf hand to kind of sum up my luck the last session and a half. If you remember, this is the JJ guy who I lost a boat to in the same session that I won the $1k pot at 1/2. One limp, I raise 22 to $10 in HJ. CO 3bets to $27, weak SB flats. I decide to flat.

Flop ($81): AT2
Checks to CO who checks. Bummer.

Turn ($81): 7
Check, I bet $50 (could go a little larger), he calls.

River ($181): J
Something interesting happens. He says to just check it down. And, of course, an alarm bell goes off in my head. Why would he say that? I'm curious, so I check. He bets $15, and I just flat. I can't describe it, but something doesn't feel right at all. He flips over, obviously, JJ for the rivered set.

Well, at least I listened to my intuition on that one. The river check looks terrible on paper, but I actually listened to my gut and it was right (like it usually tends to be).

About the session, all of my bluffs worked and all of my value hands were crushed. Which obviously isn't going to be a good thing.

6.66 hours
-$343

(Guess I was due for some runbad after the June I had )

Runbad happens. Maybe just cut your session(s) short when you're not getting the best of it.

"Quitting is easy. Standing up is the hard part." -Tommy Angelo

Great thread. Keep up the good work!

Thanks! I did say I was due for some run bad haha so at least it's expected. I think there is a difference between run bad and play bad. Like, if I'm not playing good, then I should definitely cut out early. But if it's just a bit of run and I'm playing well, then I should stay the planned amount of time. Unless it does affect my gameplay.

On a brighter note, I filled up a notebook full of poker notes! On to notebook number 2!

I had a problem with tonight's session that has never really arose.



The first one was when I broke the $1k barrier. I was like, you know, alright. The second one was when I got to ~$1,300.



This final one is when my chip stack was a bit over $1,700. Yeah, that's 9 stacks of $100 in red and a little over 1 1/2 20 stacks of green. Even better? This was ALL done at 1/2 in just about 4 hours. And it started with this hand. Three limpers to me in SB, I see JJ and raise to $15. BB calls, an older black guy who I'm not too impressed with. All else fold.

Flop ($36): AKT
I bet $20. He almost instantly raises to $50. The good part about having nut blockers. I flat. There are a few good cards for me.

Turn ($136): K
I check. He bets 2 greens. I make a small raise to $135. The thing about this hand, he's 3betting AA and KK. TT and AK are possible, but only AK having the K is possible. I could have KQ, KJ, KK, and sometimes even AK. So I think I can make a small raise/fold. He does fold.

Then another neat hand. BTN straddles. He asked the dealer about if there were bad players in the 2/5 game, but I wasn't impressed with his game. Two limps to me in HJ. I look at JT and call the $5. CO and BTN come along.

Flop ($28): AKQ
Well. Checks to me, I bet $16, BTN and UTG call.

Turn ($76): 6
UTG checks. I bet $50. I feel more confident putting a larger bet in because they have to connect with this flop and the 6 is such a blank. BTN raises to $165, UTG folds, I jam for his additional $100, he calls.

River ($606): A
I show my hand and it is good.

Next hand, 5 limps to me with T8 OTB. I decide to limp along. The table is pretty loose so I don't think I have great fold equity. Both blinds come along.

Flop ($16): J85
Checks to UTG who bets $15. I decide to call IP with a pair + backdoors. UTG is also playing kind of like a maniac. SB also calls.

Turn ($61): A
SB checks, UTG bets $32. Well, I kind of have to call. I think raising might be best here just because the A shouldn't really hit him except for AJ/A8. I call, SB folds. So mistake on my part.

River ($125): 6
Bink. UTG checks, I bet $65, he check-raises to $200. I'm like wtf. Like, I have to call with the third nuts. I don't see any players though check/raising rivers without the nuts live. So I think for just a bit. He then offers to show me a card. I pick one, he shows the 9 and I snap throw my call chip in. In hindsight, raising is definitely better once I see that. I was genuinely worried about the nutter flushes but again, it has to be a call.

Here's a hand where I'm not sure if I miss value. BTN straddle, BB makes it $17. He is unknown. Seeming loose/aggro UTG+1 flats. I see AQo in HJ and I decide to flat as well. Raising straddles in the blinds first or second to act is almost always super nutted hands. CO calls along with BTN

Flop ($76): A72
Checks to me. I bet $45, CO calls. CO is the guy I bluffed early in the session.

Turn ($166): 4
I bet $110 and he snap calls.

River ($386): 7
Here is what trips me up, is his snap call. How often does he have AK compared to AJ-A9, snap calling? And what about 22? I decide to check. He has ~$220 behind and I'm not 100% certain he is calling a jam with worse. He checks, shows AJs and mhig. Again, I might have missed some value OTR.

Then the final hand that put me over. Loose aggro lady (probably too loose and aggro) raises to $10 in UTG+1. I look at T7 in CO and flat. Definitely want to play a pot IP being a bit over $600 deep with her. BTN calls.

Flop ($33): 988
She bets $21. I decide this is a great board to raise. I can flat IP, but a lot of the times I can apply pressure and get her to fold random overcards or even JJ or something. I raise to $65, BTN folds and she calls.

Turn ($163): 3
Bink. She checks. I bet $115. She check/raises to $325. I have to stop for a minute here. 99/88/98 probably doesn't do this. What about a higher flush? It's possible. AK/AQ/AJ/KQ/KJ/QJ/Ax. But then there's also....I raised the flop. The normal 1/2 player isn't raising flop with a flush draw. It's more likely I have an 8, and I bet big because of the flush card being scary. So she can rep it, except I have it. She could also have something like QQx. So I jam. She has a little over $200 to go, but she tank folds.

Pretty good session, ran pretty well despite not having a set or a pair over JJ. I'll take my first $1k+ winning session

4 hours
+$1,330

I didn't update after my Saturday session, so here's another 2 for 1 session deal. Saturday was a fun day. Started off at 1/2, noticed that the 2/5 list didn't look particularly tough (and felt like I was running pretty well) so I got on that. For the 1/2, I played like 1 1/2 hours and was up $57. Biggest hand was me triple barreling QJo against a tight passive player on a AQT65 runout. Noticed it was a nice hand to do it with since he didn't raise pf (would with AK), I block AJ and AQ, and he didn't raise the flop, which he would with AT. So this was one of the few times I felt like I could get a player off of an Ax or even a KQ.

Then 2/5 happens. And I'm right, the table lineup is fairly soft. I want to bring up this hand because I very well may have it suboptimally. From MP, MABG pfr $25, I flat JJ in the HJ. We're about $500 effective. Should I be 3betting here? Don't have too much as far as reads go. Anyways...

Flop ($57): T32
He bets $55. That's a huge bet. Almost like a "please go away" bet. I flat. There aren't many cards I hate on the turn.

Turn ($167): 8
He bets $70. That's a smaller bet. Don't think he is as confident, but again there aren't many river cards I dislike. I flat.

River ($307): 5
He checks. When he checks, I limit his range to some Tx, maybe A hi, but almost never huge value hands. I check, but (and I heard about a spot similar to this on a podcast I was listening to while in a waiting room with my friend Friday) I think I can get some thin value from like 99 or 8x or Tx by betting ~$125. He shows ATs and I scoop it, but I'm positive I missed value there.

Then this strange hand. Same MABG limps in EP, I raise KTo from MP to $25. A seemingly competent MAWG calls in CO and limper flats.

Flop ($82): AT5
Check, I bet $40 (something might be off with the sizings I present). MAWG calls, limper folds.

Turn ($162): A
I bet $75, he calls.

River ($312): Q
I bet $105. He tanks and calls and MHIG.

Didn't put any comments during the hand. If I say that this is for value, then it seems better. I can't honestly say that though. This was a badly played hand on my part. First, what am I trying to get to fold? Ummmm....I guess random Qx? So that's why I size my river bet so small. But Qx isn't going to fold. He doesn't have a hand like JJ. Doesn't have a 55 hand. I have, at best, SDV. But can I call a river bet? Tough to tell. He may be flatting some Qx hands to the river, but the most likely one (QT) becomes heavily blocked by the river with just 6 combos. Let's say we put another 6 combos of Qx in his range. That's 12 combos of Qx. That's it. If I can take out JJ (let's give him 2 combos) and put random Tx in there, then he becomes much more likely to hold a Tx or a SDV hand than Qx. There is also the KJ portion of his range as well...let's say 3 combos also (suited). He doesn't have many combinations of hands that beat me by the river imo, unless he has Ax. But the Ax pretty much would play as a SDV hand as well given my range can be super A heavy. So we'll go with a blocking bet instead of bluff or value.

Another hand. This one taught me a valuable lesson. Two limps, I raise AK to $35 in MP, maniac player flats on my direct left. All folds.

Flop ($87): KQ9
I bet $55, he calls.

Turn ($197): 8
I bet $110, he raises to $220, I call.

I call because I think he can easily have KJ, KT, QJ, QT, hearts, etc.

River ($637): 6
I check, he bets $300. I tank. I decide to call because from my prior experience with him, he's a maniac. He shows JTo FTW.

The lesson I learned here....I block nothing of JTo. It's completely in his range. The money also got serious in the pot. I believe even a maniac knows when to shut a bluff down. And I remember thinking that he could have JT, K9, K8, Q9...when his range hits the board a lot harder than mine, and he makes the move, either he's a genius, solid poker player....or he has it. That was a good $300 lesson.

So now I'm knocked back down to a little under $700. And I get KK. Unknown older guy raises to $20, the loose MABG calls. I raise to $105 and they both call.

Flop ($322): 952
Checks to me, I bet $180, old guy calls.

Turn ($682): T
He checks, I jam for $395, he calls. We run it once and MHIG for the almost $1,500 pot.

Think old guy raises AA somewhere there. In pretty good shape when he flats the flop. Nice little pot.

Last hand of this session I want to share. It's nearing my last few hands. BB solid player flats the BTN straddle. This is the same guy who flatted my AA 4bet with 99 and just flopped top set. I flat with 65 in CO. BTN checks. I don't raise this because we're ~$1k effective with BB and ~$1.4k effective with BTN. BTN is the maniac and this hand just plays too well this deep to raise and risk the large 3bet, cutting it's effectiveness down.

Flop ($32): Q72
BB donks for $20. I flat. If I raise, I'm raising like 22, 77 and that's about it. Maybe some other flushes sometimes. BTN folds.

Turn ($72): J
BB bets $40, I flat.

If a club comes, so be it. I want to keep his range as wide as possible for as long as possible, and while I do have a vulnerable hand it's still very value oriented.

River ($152): 3
He bets $100. I raise to $250. Would I do this with a hand like AT? Maybe. But I can guarantee he doesn't think I have flushes that play this way. And this is the exact scenario I have in my mind when I take this line. He could have a hand like KQ or QJ and be like "I block things, I have to call." He actually does call, I show the flush and MHIG.

2/5, ~6 hours +$1,188
Overall 7 1/2 hours, +$1,245

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

Then the session yesterday. I was extremely card dead for most of the session. It wasn't pretty, and I wasn't flopping too much I could go with. I tried two bluffs during the session. One, I triple barreled QTo on 98638, leaving a 2/3 pot size bet for villain to call OTR for all of his chips. He folded. The other, I check/raised a young internet looking guy who looked like he was taking the game way too seriously when the third flush card got there OTT. I barreled the river and he like overpot jams. LOL nice hand, you can flat two hearts there.

Then I run into a nasty hand where villain limps AJo. This villain seemed like a pretty soft player but was sun running the entire session. Like limping almost every hand, limping 74o OTB, flopping two pair and rivering a boat, calling down with A6o on a board where he clearly shouldn't be good but was, and even winning a hot seat promotion. So of course the board runs out QJ2J (two diamonds) J when I have the KQ of diamonds and he just casually has quads.

But, you know, for as card dead as I was and as bad as I ran, to only be down $238 in 4 1/2 hours isn't bad at all.

Damn fkn nice progress man havent had a 5 BI+ chip stack in a while...

Thanks! Gotten a bit lucky in spots but the continuous study and an evolution in my thinking process has definitely helped! How is your journey going? Notice you had switched to RIO.

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

Well, my volume goal has pretty much failed. It's been a nightmare week for me, a week that should have been set up to get some solid volume. I had Friday/Saturday/Sunday off. Saturday is me and my gf's one year anniversary, so we were going to pretty much spend the entire day together. Friday I was going to play a marathon session, try for at least 12 hours.

But then I woke up Wednesday morning unable to see or or stand up straight. About once a year, sometimes even less, I'll wake up and have violent dizziness. Usually it takes a day to go away and then another day or two to recover. Call off work, wake up Thursday after sleeping upright on the couch and it's still there. Well ****. I have to go work on Thursday, so I trudge through that. Wake up Friday and it's still there. So I decide to do this exercise I see on youtube. Scariest thing ever, because it starts out with you tilting your head in such a way that if you have this thing (BPPV), then your eyes and vision will scatter and move uncontrollably and you have to keep your eyes open for it.

Good thing is that it did, because the exercise is meant to cure that thing. But you literally spend the next hour fighting off vomiting everywhere. Exercise seems to have helped, but my goodness it's awful fighting dizziness and feeling like you're going to vomit for 3 straight days.

So I'll probably resume live play tomorrow. But what the time away did for me was that yesterday I was able to play some online poker. And I realize how much I like playing the LO8 cash games. I mean it does help that I made ~$200 from them yesterday (-$50ish from PLO, +~$12 from MTT). Definitely a game I'm going to have to keep playing.

A couple of sessions have been played since I last posted here on Saturday...or maybe it was Sunday. Who knows. Anyways, Sunday I started out playing the 1/2 game, waiting for the 2/5 to start. After about 3 hours, it finally gets underway. And then about 5 hands into the 2/5, my gf calls and needs me to pick her up from her dad's house.

Greattttt.

Anyways, there were really just 3 hands from this session I wanted to share. And of those only 2 were tough decisions. This first one, at 1/2 there are 3 limps so I complete with T7o in SB. This is about the bottom of my completing range here. BB checks.

Flop ($10): KT7
I bet $10 and get 3 callers.

Turn ($50): 5
I bet $30. BB calls. She seems like the typical 1/2 older white woman player. MP jams for $131. BTN folds. Now it's to me.

MP is a young white guy. Seems to play more like a conservative mawg. I recently got 3 streets with my AA against his KQ on 34KJ5. The other hand I have against him, I iso'd 2 limpers, cbet a 234 flop, and xd Q t 5 r and he showed 43s from EP.

So I don't think it's KK or 55. What about KT? KT is definitely a possibility given the way he played top two previously. So is K7. So is K5. So is 77. This is literally one of the top 3 or 4 hands that I can have here. But I'm not confident at all given how unaggressive he has been that I have the best hand. And there is still BB left to act. So I sigh fold. BB also folds, and we'll never know what the kid had.

This next hand is pretty neat. One limp, I raise 88 to $10 in CO, lady from above OTB calls as well as a blind and a limper.

Flop ($41): 8JJ
Checks to me, I bet $20, THEY ALL CALL



Turn ($121): 8
Checks to me, I bet $50, BTN raises to $100. Folds to me and I've never been in a pot where I hope I'm currently behind. I jam, she calls for a little more than $200 total. She shows KJo, the river is a brick and I win the cooler.

Then shortly after the 2/5 game starts up. 4 hands in, I get AA and raise to $20 UTG 5-handed. CO, BTN, and SB all call.

Flop ($85): Q27
SB donks for $25. I raise to $100. BTN calls.

So now there are some huge alarm bells. I'm not worried about SB, I know I'm ahead of him. BTN is a middle aged white woman. I played with her once before, not overly impressed. Mainly a tournament player, plays very much like a typical 1/2 player, kind of loose and passive. SB calls.

Turn ($385): 5
SB checks. This puts me in a rough spot. I check behind as well, she jams for $275. SB heems and haws and folds. I tank.

There are FDs out there, and if the Q wasn't a spade then that would help me tremendously. SB had to have a Q. Absolutely had to have a Q. So that takes away some of the Qx combos. I noticed that someone had come up to the table and she was making some genuine buddy buddy talk. I folded. It's probably one of those super exploitable folds that can only be made in live poker. Her play style, SB's actions, and her idle chatter with someone just told me that she had a better hand than I did. It felt gross on a board like that.

1/2 3.25 hours +$494
2/5 .25 hours -$172
Overall 3.5 hours +$322

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

Then yesterday I decide that I wanted to play a 4 hour session. So I get on the 2/5 list, play 1/2 for maybe an orbit and profit $19. Then I go to the 2/5 and notice that, at first, it seems like I have the worst seat at the table. One and two to my left are probably the most frequent visitors to 2/5, and probably among the top 5 reg players in the room. To my right looks like a whole row of unknowns though. It would actually look like a tougher seat in about 30 minutes when another good, solid thinking player would sit on my direct left. But within the first orbit, I have a $519 stack. I see QQ UTG and open to $20. CO, BTN, and SB all call. All are unknown.

Flop ($82): KQ2
Check to me, I bet $50, CO calls. CO is a young asian guy with these huge sunglasses on. Never played with him before.

Turn ($182): K
Nice. I bet $115 and he calls again.

So I'm almost positive he has some sort of K or maybe 22 here. Maybe he has like AQ or QJ as well and is just stubborn.

River ($412): J
Not the greatest card. But I jam for $330. He thinks for about 20 seconds and calls. He shows KTo (really??) and MHIG. Nice to more than double up in your first orbit

That was really the only hand of any note. The table for the first 3 hours I was there was probably better than any 1/2 table I had ever played at. The 4 or 5 players to my direct right were all either bad, tilting like crazy, or both the entire time. I probably had the best seat in the house. I went card dead unfortunately but picked up some small pots here and there. It got so crazy at one point, a guy insta check jammed T3o from UTG on a T975 board for ~$400 and got called off...and won unimproved. Another guy jammed preflop blind (I watched him the entire time) for ~$300, the tiltiest player at the player called. Blind guy flipped over a K and was hoping for a K on the board....only to flip his other card over and it wound up also being a K.

It was definitely a very fun session despite how card dead I was. It also helped that I netted almost $1k from that game.

1/2 .33 hours, +$19
2/5 3.67 hours, +$984
Total 4 hours, +$1,005

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

Last night's session actually put me at $10k profit just from live poker for the year in a little under 300 hours. That's insane to me. Last year it took me until about the end of September to actually gain any traction online and become a consistent winner. Maybe I'm just sun running. But I can still get better. As far as I'm concerned, maybe I can turn this into one of the best, quietly unknown success stories on 2+2.