I would want minimum 40,000 to play live 5/5 plo when I could not replenish my bankroll easily if I lost it fwiw

That's probably closer to what I want to play the 5/5 plo. Only reason why I played it Thursday night was because the 2/5 game was literally that bad.

I did something on Sunday that I have yet to do. I played in my first live MTT. I would say that it was a success despite cashing. It was a grind though. Saturday night during the game, my throat started getting scratchy. No biggie, it'll go away after some sleep.

I feel ok-ish Sunday morning, so I decide to enter the $550 MTT. Well about 2 1/2 hours in and I'm absolutely dying from a fever and aches and chills. So that part of it wasn't fun. I also got what I thought to be the worst seat in the MTT. I go to my seat and to my direct left is a 2/5 reg that I play with probably the most. I view him as an extremely solid player but can be prone to tilt sometimes. 30 minute levels starting at 50/100 with 30,000 starting chips. Not much happens early on. I get a double up after the first break with AKo > JJ, spiking broadway on the river. Then I go on a tear and build my stack up to ~3x average stack.

It all starts going downhill when I try to 4bet bluff KTo with a big stack against a player I thought had been raising a bit too much. I cbet a QQJ flop, and after he calls I'm pretty much done with the hand. Win maybe 2 pots after that and get knocked out 14 levels in with KJo < A6o, about 15 away from the money (out of 120).

The MTT is out of my BR, going by the 100 BI rule. However, I had wanted to see what a live MTT was like and since I had a rare Sunday of no work combined with the best regularly scheduled structured MTT, I figured I would take a shot. My overall take from it is that live MTTs are soft. Players understand the basics, but that's about it. I can see why some good cash crushers would play them, and that's because it's softer than the average cash game. With that being said, I'm in no way going to just jump ship to just MTTs because I find cash games to be far more enjoyable.

8 hours
-$550

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

Poker is pretty much suspended for the time being. It'll probably start back up sometime late next week. This whole moving process is going to be fairly time consuming and setting the house up to exactly the way we want it. I'm pretty excited about it. I think the biggest thing for me is healthwise and spacewise. This entire string of challenges have taken place with me in my mom's basement. There's even a picture of my old "grindstation" somewhere in the threads. Cold bricks surround me with mold in one of the corners. No humidity down here. Extremely cold all of the time. Probably bad air quality. Being able to sleep and in general, live in more fresh air is going to be so much more +EV.

Then there is the space. Yeah, I'll have to share a bed, but it's the master bedroom. I'll have my own room for my personal stuff. I can go in the living room or kitchen whenever I want. I won't be living with people who just don't pick up after themselves. There won't be insanely loud footsteps every night or morning. I might even be able to play more poker because I'll be able to spend more time with my gf. All of that, for an extra $200-$250/month. This is the last long update I'll make living in my mom's basement. I guess now the focus of the thread will turn to see if I can eventually become a pro. Once I'm finished moving in, that is my focus. Good luck everyone!

Hello Everybody!

As you can see with my last post, I did not die or decide to not post due to losing (which is a frequent theme in these threads). We finally have cable and internet set up and we're all about 95% of the way settled in. I'm waiting for a chair for my room - pics to come when it's finished - and I'll be done. I must say, it's a very nice freedom not having to come home and find kids everywhere to just go down to an ice cold basement where the air probably wasn't good.

But the biggest difference is the water! Oh my god. I thought the tap water at my old place was fine. Oh my god the water here is so much better! I'm probably just going to wait until vacation to start playing again. I hope everything has been going well for you guys and good luck (again) at the felt!

We finally had a losing month! And all it took was a long process of moving combined with a couple of bouts of illnesses leading to almost no volume. I played 21 cash game hours, down -$922 and lost another $535 from the MTT shot. I only played 5 sessions in September with one of those being the MTT, so losing month is kind of meh. The goal I was able to get closest to was the studying. I went over a few podcasts, read some in books, and overall think the studying aspect went quite well.

Here are some October goals:

-60 hours
-5 podcasts or videos

There won't be any sessions taken away via MTTs this month. I don't plan on playing any. Not a lot of goals during the month, and that's because I have to adjust to this new place/new schedule/etc. The one annoying thing about this new house is that everyone is in bed by like 1030, meaning it's kind of expected I'm in bed. Not that I mind it, it's just annoying.

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

As promised, a few pictures of the new place. Didn't want to show the front or back for obvious reasons. Living room is nice, leads straight out to a huge patio that overlooks the big grassland. And I'd say my area is nice as well. A bit cramped, but everything fits.

Is it wrong to feel a bit queasy seeing OP's title of having "mother" and "climax" in the same sentence?

Still maturing

Nice set up, OP. Good for you. Hopefully you can get back to the tables this month.

Haha it only took a few months for someone to point that out. To be fair, this is the last thread I'll make, hence "The Climax." Thanks for reading!

Thanks! I definitely plan on hitting up the tables a lot this week.

Speaking of which, I have played two sessions the last two days. Disappointed that while I was there, the 2/5 never got off. Guess that's what happens when a poker room, for some inexplicable reason, decides to not offer promotions past 5pm during the week. It's ok, I wanted to work on a few things and shake a bit of rust off.

The first session on Monday was a 4 hour session. Didn't receive many big hands, didn't play in any real big pots. +$101 in 4 hours, all at 1/2. There was one hand I wanted to post in here, because I think I screwed up big time. Two limps to me in HJ. I decide to raise K3 to $11. Not a standard play on my part. Big stack in CO calls. He had been a bit aggro. SB calls. Me and SB have quite a bit of history at 2/5. He says "you must have a strong hand, I got one too." Fishy UTG calls as well as bad LAG in MP. Awesome.

Flop ($57): KQ9
Checks to me. I check back. As much as I hate using balance in live games, I think this is an ok spot to x back. I have TP, no kicker, BDFD. It's good for when I have JJ/TT/AJ and want to see a free card. CO bets $25. He had been taking a couple of stabs at pots. UTG calls. I call. The problem with the xr IMO is that not much better is going to fold. KJ/KT/AK etc.

Turn ($132): 3
UTG donks for $37. While this player was a bit loose with his bets, I didn't have a great range on him. This is mistake one I think. I just call the $37. In my mind, I couldn't think of many hands that are going to call a xr, but away from the table....Q9/KJ/KT/AK(?)/Q3. CO folds.

River ($206): A
UTG checks. When he checks, I can rule out JT/AK/AQ. Surely those hands are betting, as well as 99. He can still have K9/KQ/A9. I check back. I check back in real time because I wonder what he can actually call a river bet with. In hindsight, eliminating a lot of strong hands I should be able to get a $50 thin value bet in and get called by like AJ/KJ/KT/AT/Q9. MHIG

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

Second session, for the first 3 1/2 hours, was essentially the same as the session prior. Was not running particularly well at all. But at least the table was very entertaining. And I was two to the right of one of the biggest spew monkeys I had seen. When this player first sat down, he seemed like he could be some sort of wanna be pro. MAWG, bought in for 400, had headphones, etc. Throughout the session though and many rivers not going his way, he became a massive spew monkey. We do have some history from earlier in the session. I 3bet him with AQs and won at showdown against his A8o. I also xr Qc6c2x flop, barrel turn 4 and barreled river A with Jc9c. He folded river, putting me on AcXc. By the time of this hand, I had built my $400 stack up to about $550. Villain had roughly the same. One limp UTG, I limp 55 in UTG+1 (we're 8 handed). MP raises to $15. MP had been a spewy player earlier in the session, but had started to tighten up. He had about a $400 stack. SB calls, Villain in BB calls, I call.

Flop ($62): J52
Checks to pfr. He bets $25. Villain raises to $75. I 3bet to $150. Think looking at stack sizes, I should go to ~$175. He thinks for a bit, asks me if I have mo-town, and calls.

Turn ($387): 6
He checks to me. I have $390 left. 43 is in his range. Whether he calls the cold 3bet on the flop with it or not is a different question. It's more likely he has two pair/twos/fds than the straight imo. I jam. He tanks for about 2 minutes. He says most players can fold this hand, but I can't. And calls for $372. He flips over, I **** you not, 82.

River ($1,131): 4
Ouch. 82% in a 560bb pot down the drain. But I sucked it up, said good catch, and realized that that 18% suckout is what keeps bad players in the game. I think that loss stung a bit more than the $1,700 pot I lost getting AA AIPF against the 99. But can't complain, I want that call and most of the time I'm going to win.

Rebought for the 30 minutes more I had planned on playing. Tried a thin value bet against same villain who literally plays ATC with A9 on 239J4...he winds up with TT.

I'm fairly happy with how I've played the last two sessions, aside from a 15 minute lapse before I left on Monday where I just didn't want to play a hand for whatever reason. Taking a rest day, and loading up on hours Thursday/Friday/Sunday for the promotions.

5 hours
-$520

Two sessions have been played since the last update. Unfortunately I wasn't able to go hard on Thursday like I had wanted. Halfway through the morning I got so sick that I couldn't move out of bed due to fever and aches. Fun times.

So I gathered myself to play Friday afternoon. I wasn't feeling too great but hung in there for a little over 6 hours. Lost a little bit playing 1/2 for about 20 minutes, nothing great, -$44.

The 2/5 wasn't too exciting either. Just one big spot, and then I picked up a few smaller pots along the way. So this is how this hand goes down (hand copied directly from thread posted on CLP):
Villain is on my direct right. MAWG, have played with him before. Seems like he has quite a few leaks and is probably an overall loser in the game, but had been playing a bit tighter than normal. We do have a small amount of history from earlier in the session, where I 3bet his BTN iso raise in SB with 77 and tid with a cbet on K22. His stack - $770

Hero - Young mixed guy. Having friendly banter with this villain as I like to keep a non serious table mood. We're both about even for the session, have him covered.

UTG straddles to $10. Villain in MP raises to $35. Hero sees A♣ A♠ in HJ and 3bets to $100. Sizing could probably be a bit bigger. Folds to villain who calls.

Flop ($215): K♥ 4♠ 5♥
Villain checks, Hero bets $120, villain calls.

Turn ($465): 9♥
Hero bets $240, Villain jams for $550, Hero goes into the tank and calls. Villain flips over A2 and MHIG

The bet OTT is a simple value bet. I don't believe this villain has many completed flush combos based on prior experience and there can easily be more KxXh combos than actual made flushes. TBH, I was not really considering folding the turn but trying to piece together what combos he could have. The hand he wound up having definitely threw me for a loop.

6.16 hours
+$847 (-$44 1/2, +$891 2/5)

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

Session yesterday was all at 2/5. Only planned on playing 4 hours. It's odd, living with your gf makes it just slightly harder to get out and play poker. This session literally was all about preflop play. I couldn't make a hand, a draw, an anything, to save my life postflop. At this point, my stack has gone down to a little over $500 from my initial $700 BI. I am in an ok seat, the table maniac is on my direct right, but on my left is an unknown reggy looking player and a solid, maybe a little too aggro preflop reg. Folds to CO who opens to $15. I look at QQ OTB. I flat. I know in his spot, I should be looking to iso 3bet wide. As predicted, he 3bets to $65. CO folds, I 4bet to $165, he jams and I call. We flip it over and RIT and my QQ beats his JJ both times.

So it may look like a good play, but honestly I think it would have played out the same way if I had just 3bet the CO as BB would have 4bet me.

A few hands after this one, we play musical chairs. The maniac busts and with him busting, I don't want to be on the left of those two players. So I switch with the 6 seat (which gives me the god seat on the new worst player) who switches to take my 9 seat. About 5 hands after the switch, he opens to $25. One weird guy calls. SB makes it $115. I'm in BB and see AA. I nearly crap my pants and realize I'm still in the hand. I just cold 4bet to $240. Seat 9 5bets to $575, folds back to me, I jam and he calls. We run it once (his doing), and I flop a set of aces and hold for the $2100 pot.

A couple of hands I want to post here just to get some comments. Two players limp, tight player with ~$900 stack raises to $20. I flat OTB with 97, and the limpers call.

Flop ($85): 655
Checks to me. Think I miss a steal spot here. I check back, pretty stupidly.

Turn ($85): 6
Checks to me Now I decide to bet $40. Make my bluffs look like value bets. All fold except the weird guy, who seems tight/passive.

River ($165): 9
He donks out for $40. I have to be good like 16% of the time. I decide to fold. I don't know what his range would be here, but it seems to be 6x heavy? I don't think a 5x is betting out on the river. Maybe he plays a flush this way? So I should raise here then. It confused me a little bit.

This second hand, BTN straddles. BTN has like a 70VPIP and is way too loose. All fold to an unknown who limps in MP. I see A7o and raise to $45. This is a little aggressive, but I know I can value bet a bit lighter since BTN is going to defend their straddle a bit more religiously. BTN folds, limper calls. Limper is a MA middle eastern guy.

Flop ($107): AJ8
MP donks out for $80. He's playing about a $600 stack. What's our play here?

4.16 hours
+$1317

Dumbest rule ever. I can't go to the sprint store and outright buy a phone. I have to put it in an installment plan and wait 24 hours to just pay it off. What the ****?

Yes, my old 2 1/2 year old phone hit the crapper yesterday on my way to work. Longest 8 hour work day ever without that phone. Not a huge loss though, I was looking to buy another one in July when I paid the old one off but decided to wait until it died. The unfortunate part is the way it died. The phone just wouldn't turn on no matter what. So all of my stats and notes saved on that phone are no longer with me. It's a damned good thing I keep my session win/losses on my computer as well. May spend a couple of hours sometime this week to try to get specific win/losses from this thread to my phone.

Did play a short bastardization of a session last night though. Got home, downloaded the Bravo App on my phone and saw that there were two 2/5 games going...on a Wednesday evening? So I get there as fast as I can and it went down to 1 game. It was a good game though as I had history with just 3 of the players and only thought one was a good player.

(First, I should mention my +$93 win in 20 minutes of 1/2).

Just two hands I want to share. This first one, I open AK to $20 UTG. Two limpers. Neither one seems to be any good. Asian lady OTB 3bets to $80. She doesn't seem that good either. Played with her a couple of times, slightly loose and slightly aggro. She starts the hand with a $360 stack. I decide to 4bet to $200. One of the limpers calls AI for less, asian lady goes AI and I call.

Flop AK9
Great flop!
Turn: 5
River: T

I happily flip over my AK. Limper flips over 99. At least I win the side.

Nope. Asian lady flips over the last AA combo. So that was a neat cooler that only cost 75bb.

Buy in for another $300. I get my first opportunity to 5bet bluff. One of the better players at the table opens UTG+2 to $20. Solid player flats. I'm in HJ and see ATo and 3bet to $85. Folds to him who clicks it back to $155. I feel like something is off and know damn well he is capable of 4bet bluffing. So I 5bet to $265 and he folds quite quickly.

Then another hand. I actually had been one of the more active players at the table. I had the two best players at the table to my direct right, and my strategy was that if they didn't open, I need to open because I feel the other players aren't good. I open AT to $20. BTN 3bets to $55. We're about $800ish effective. I flat.

Flop ($115): 873
I check. He bets $75. I decide to float this. A lot of times he will just give up, and there are two cards that can come that I can go berserk on. 9s and Js.

Turn ($265): 4
This isn't that card, but it gives me more equity. I check, he bets $150. I'm getting slightly worse than 3 to 1. But I estimate his 3betting, flop, and turn barreling range to be like TT+. Which means 9 flush cards can give me a sneaky backdoor flush where I can win more money. An A very likely gives me the best hand. Once in a blue moon he can have AK and AQ, but that's just really two combos compared to the 22 overpairs. So I call. If the turn had been one of the two gin cards, I would have probably check/raise. It is reasonable that I can have JJ or 99 in that situation and turn a set.

River ($565): Q
Bink. I check, he bets $300, I jam, he calls and shows QQ.

The runout was pretty lucky, but I only played this way because I was able to narrow his range down. It's a lot murkier imo if I'm playing against one of the few good players.

Racked up after a little under 3 hours at the casino. Was getting tired and the game was drying up quickly.

2.84 hours
+$1,120 ($50 promotion, +$977 2/5)

^Think it's 24 combos of TT+ in that last hand, but that's prob splitting hairs. Cool to hear about the 5b bluff. Keep rockin it man!

You're right, 24 combos of overpairs. I think I meant 21 that I could beat with an A. Thanks for the reply! In that casino, I've only played against 5 or so players who I would actually 5bet bluff. That's how few players are willing to 4bet anything worse than QQ. Just so happened that two of the five made action in that hand.

Two sessions in since my last reply. The first one, a Friday night, I made a terrible decision. Well, first off my girlfriend wants our time to be Saturday mornings now instead of Friday nights, which is great for me.

Anyways, a couple of -$20 outings for like 20 minutes at 1/2 and 2/5 games. I decided instead to play the 2/2 PLO game.

Mistake. Absolute mistake. I had a feeling about this specific game before even coming to the casino, but it was a horrid nitfest. After one specific player left to the 5/5 game, literally everyone tightened up to horrific standards. The 5/5 is definitely much looser and splashier than the 2/2 game.

It was so nitty, I turned into a ****ing LAG, opening and betting at every opportunity. Straddling whenever I could, even UTG. I never straddle, especially UTG, unless it is either agreed upon or for strategic reasons. I wanted to turn my image into a maniac and put pressure on the nut peddlers. I wound up winning like $150 in the 3 1/2 hours at that game, but it was a definite dry game. And then literally after all of my betting and raising....a guy folded TT5X face up facing my river raise on JT556. Not ****ting you. Yeah, I had JJ97, but still. You're not even going to call the 100 because 3 combos might beat you?

While I say that, I do wholeheartedly agree that that game is definitely beatable due to the players' nitty nature.

4 hours
+$100

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

Yesterday I get all excited and call in for the 2/5 list because there is a 2/5 game going at like 2pm. I get there and....nope. But they plan on opening another one up soon. Long story short, that didn't happen.

Most of the night at the 1/2 game (they broke the first one after about 30 minutes because players don't want to play 5 handed...what?) I was picking up some smaller pots and making some good folds imo. Here is one good fold. We're 7 handed right now, I open QcJx to $10 in MP and get 3 callers.

Flop ($40) AJ8
Checks to me. I decide to check. Too often will a player have an A or some draw that can put me in a tough spot. A dissheveled older black guy bets $20, and a young white guy with beats calls from SB. I decide to call as well, getting 4:1 with BDSD/FD and potential Q/J as outs.

Turn ($100): Q
SB donks out for $76. I tank for about a minute. The Q helps me a lot. But what would he donk out with, and so large? T9 made a lot of sense. AQ could make sense as well. What bluffs or hands do I beat? Well, is he calling Q8? Only one that would make sense is Q8, and I have the Qc. 88 could play this way as well I guess. So I fold. I planned on raising if the dissheveled black guy bet, not afraid to GII with him. Black guy folds, and SB takes the pot down.

It was almost definitely a good laydown. The SB in this hand looked and sounded like a reg. Talking about combinations and different lines. But very rarely did he actually play like a solid player, more like the typical loose/passive player that populates 1/2

The hand of the night though has to be this one. Two limps, a younger looking white guy raises to $6 in CO. BTN calls. I see A3 in SB. I could 3bet bluff here, but I think being super deep with the guy I like calling better. BB calls and the two limpers call.

Flop ($36): 328
I check, checks around to CO. He bets $30. BTN folds. That's a large bet. But the two or three orbits I had seen, he was definitely fairly aggro and this could easily just be a ploy to pick up the pot. I decide to flat OOP. Hearts, 3, A can all come and we're like $500 effective. BB calls, all else folds.

Turn ($126): 8
Checks to CO. CO bets $100. I check/raise to $225. I'm trying to rep 33/88/99/98. 98 is definitely plausible as well as 99. 33/88 not as much. I'm squarely putting him, after he double barrels, on TT-AA and maybe some club draws. He can have 99/88/22 as well, but my main focus is getting the upper range to fold. Hands like TT-QQ definitely have a hard time calling a river jam imo because you just don't see a guy spazz out at 1/2 with a hand worse than an overpair. He tanks for a bit and calls.

(FWIW, if he jams there, I have to call like another $250 into $800, so I'm getting ~4 to 1 on a call. Just about every heart is for sure good, and sometimes the 3 and A are good as well).

River ($576): 6
I jam for $250. He tanks for like 2 or 3 minutes. The old, cranky guy in the BB starts complaining. He has literally a $45 stack. CO flips over 22 and folds after the tank.

Which leads me to believe, if he is folding 22 like that, and he NEVER ONCE put me on the rivered flush, then that jam is +EV on almost every river.

Solid night at the 1/2 tables. Even though it had been like 4 days since I played, I felt like I played a very solid game. I have been studying much more as well. Spent an hour and a half on videos Sunday and 1/2 an hour on Monday. Commenting on hands and I feel like it's clicking even more than it ever has.

3.84 hours (planned on 4, told myself I'd leave after a specific orbit and that orbit was shorter than expected)
+$600

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

Life news. I know I'm not allowed to go into specifics, so I won't. and I've never listed nor named my place of work. But I am getting a bit worried about my job security. I know I'm one of the best in my area at my job, but there are things I'm hearing that aren't necessarily good as a whole (not about me).

This leaves me in a bit of a conundrum. If I were to lose my job today, I'm pretty sure I could survive and make it as a poker pro for the time being. But it wouldn't be nearly as comfortable. I literally have about half of the wanted life roll and BR that I stated I would want before thinking about going pro. I told my gf that I was going to have to start putting forth more effort and time into poker because I am worried about my situation. She is thankfully behind me 100%. And I definitely need to play a bit more, even though I do have the FT job. Come time to pay for taxes on the poker winnings (yes, I will be paying taxes on it), I'm worried that's going to slash the BR by a lot. So we'll see.

These updates seem to follow a specific pattern. Two sessions played since the last update.

I got to the casino at about 10am on Friday morning. As expected, the room was booming due to the $1k high hands every half hour. I wasn't there for the high hand promo, I was there because lots of players were there for the high hand promo. Played a bit of 1/2 for an hour 20 minutes, down -$110. But god was it an easy table.

The 2/5 table was a good table as well. One of the easier lineups that I had seen. Half the players were drinking. I decided to partake in a $25 72 side bet just for the image. I know it's a slightly losing prop, but I didn't want to be viewed as THAT NIT. Think I lost like $200 from it due to a failed 72o run myself and 5 players hitting it. They also had half hour $100 cold hands where they would just put $100 in and see flop, turn, river and flip their cards. I wouldn't partake in that, but when they dropped it to $50 and another player said they would if I did, I decided again to not be viewed as THAT NIT. I lost

It was a pretty rough session getting anything going. I value owned myself twice. Once I fired a river bet with AQ on a A8262 board where the IP 3bettor bet flop and checked turn. He called with AK.

It wasn't all terrible though. For as little as I had going for me, I wound up being up $106 for the session. Take away the prop bets and it's like $350.

8.58 hours
+$106 (+$216 2/5)

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

Then a short session last night. Very much like Friday, got either nothing of the boards or just enough to cost me money. 1/2, half an hour, +$58.

I did double up fairly early with QQ > AQo AIPF against a squeeze happy player. An unknown UTG opened. I see QQ in CO, notice that both blinds are fairly squeeze happy, and flat. The math seems fairly easy imo. UTG might flat a couple of worse pocket pairs, but I'm mostly folding stuff I beat and don't wanna see a 4bet. I'd be happier getting it in against BB's range than UTG's range. As predicted, BB squeezes, I raise to an amount that gives me a little less than a PSB left, he jams and I call.

The only other interesting hand kind of showed how the rest of the night went. An aggro player, maybe not solid, opens with $900 effective. Unknown fish seeming player calls. I decide to flat with 86hh in SB. Calling with effective position can be ok this deep, 3betting can be fine, folding doesn't seem bad. Eh.

Flop ($65): 234
I check, MP bets $40, HJ folds. I debated raising here, and I think I like raising here MUCH more than flatting. We get the fold equity, I can reasonably rep a set, and I have a good deal of equity and scare cards. Instead, I flat.

Turn ($145): Q
I check, he bets $85, I raise to $225. He thinks for a little before jamming. I do the math, he jammed $790. I'd have to call like $550 to win $1200. Not the proper odds imo, although the only hands I'm truly crushed by are AQhh and A5hh. I decided to mathematically fold. He shows QQ for the turned boat.

That hand definitely plays different if I raise the flop. I then have to bet the turn because I don't think he is folding. I think he has too large of a stack size to jam, so then I'm faced with probably having to call a turn bet.

Do I like the turn raise? It's hard to know what I'm doing on that specific board with 22-44. I think specifically 3h3x I'm flatting flop and xr turn. I think I raise the others on the flop like 50/50. And then 65, which I'd only have the suited combos, is definitely check/calling flops and raising turns.

There aren't too many straight bluffs I have there. I think a hand like KQhh/QJhh/QThh is just xc xc with the SDV. A6/86/76/A3, but A3hh I more want to raise the flop.

So imo I don't really have enough bluffs there that can be called by flop overpairs but turn underpairs; JJ-77, obviously AK. So I like the turn raise. A ton of his range is just folding. It just so happens that I ran into a turned set this time.

3.75 hours
+$305 (+$257 2/5)

Played a nice, long session today. There were something like 33 tables going on in the casino, which is the most I've ever seen at the casino. I did play a little at the 1/2 table but for some reason my notes were deleted.

The one hand I do want to share. Two players limp to me in CO. I see KK and raise to $25. BB and both limpers call.

Flop ($102): 872

Checks to me, I bet $70, all folds except white middle aged woman who calls. I've played with her a bit prior. She does have a bluff switch and normally plays PLO. She also seemed a bit tilted.

Turn ($242): 9

She donks out for $200. I find this a little puzzling. There is a non-zero chance she has JT and 65, but I don't think it's super likely. She'd literally have to have JTss or at least one spade imo. I discount all sets aside from 99, and there can be some TT/T9/pair+spade. I decide to call.

River ($642): 7

She jams for $485. I tank for a little bit. This is a great card though. 98 loses to me if she has that. 87 raises flop. It just doesn't really make much sense, unless it is something like 79. I call, she flips over JJ and MHIG

The hand doesn't really make much sense. First, she has to put me on an underpair or a hand like 8x. Then, she has to think that I will just station off turn and river.

Or she puts me on QQ/KK/AA/JJ and thinks I'll fold. Which if she xr flop and barrels turn and river, that's a lot more believable. But xc a flop like that, donk the turn large, and then a terrible river card and it just doesn't add up. I'm not sure what she was trying with that hand. But thankfully it didn't work.

8 hours
+$1,043

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This session puts me at quite the huge milestone. I am at the +$20k mark for the year in live cash games. And it's not November yet. It's not a brag. It's an I can't actually believe where I've gotten in such a short amount of time. I wanted to start shot taking 2/5 at around this time at the beginning of the year. Instead, I'm a 2/5 reg and I could theoretically shot take 5/10 if I wanted to. It's just a big milestone to me IMO.

My October goals were short, sweet, simple and to the point.

-60 hours (54 hours 10 minutes. I was pretty much right on point with this goal. Only reason I didn't get it was that Thursday way back in the first week, where I had an 8 hour session planned but wound up very sick)
-5 podcasts or videos (I think I watched like 4 or 5 videos, but have been killing the podcasts. They are helping too, I'm definitely picking up a few tidbits here and there.)

For the month, I made a profit of +$6,044, which I think is the second largest winning month that I've had behind August. Of course though, an hourly of $111.58/hr is not sustainable at any 1/2 2/5 5/5 2/2 game format, but it's nice to have an upswing month. I did want to share one hand that I played on Sunday. Didn't have time to post results since it's been work sleep work travel sleep, but I played 4 hours and won $1,075. This hand, one OMC limps UTG. I raise AK to $25. Aggro, solid player calls in SB as does an unknown BB and UTG.

Flop ($100): 775
Checks to me. I decide to check back. Not getting better to fold, this doesn't really hit my range, etc. I could bet out here though and get folds enough of the time perhaps.

Turn ($100): 2
SB bets $60. Folds to me. I call. My reasoning is simple. I've played enough with him to know that he has a 3betting button. Probably consists of pocket pairs, suited connectors, premium hands. So what is he repping with this bet? Maybe he bets for protection with 44, 33, 66 that he doesn't 3bet preflop. He doesn't have all 7x in his range. Don't think he is flatting Q7, 72-75 (75s, just two combos). Think most other 7s are 3bet in the SB aside from like J7s.

River ($220): 3
He bets $145 rather quickly. This is a total blank. I already had it in my mind that I was just going to station down on brick river cards. We've played enough together that I know he bluffs at a perhaps too high frequency. What does he have when he does this? If my preflop hand reading is correct, not much. He has a bunch of like KT/QT/JT/J9 type of hands that I believe he is flatting in SB. He says after I get the chips in my hand that "AK is good". I was going to call anyways, so I called. He flipped over Q9, I flipped over my AK and scooped the pot.

That was a case of a concept that has been drilled into my head constantly. Hand reading, starting from preflop. Preflop, if you've played with your opponents enough, is probably the largest clue that you can get when hand reading. Which is what I did with the hand above.

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Thankfully I have just three working days left until vacation. I think I want to play a few longer sessions, but also have some days off in between to rewind. I did also tell my gf that I needed to start putting more time in at the poker tables. As I was telling her, I'm not exactly sure what's going on with my company, but I want to be prepared for when it does happen.

Another neat little project that I've been working on is BR building during some down time. I had like $45 left on Ignition after my latest withdrawal, and I decided that I wanted to use Ignition as a place where I can practice PLO. The game doesn't run that often in my casino, but as I've said earlier I want to be well versed in it since players aren't that great at it. I'm up to almost $90 from the 5plo/5plo8 games.

-70 hours
-5 videos watched and note taken on
-Shot take the 5/10 game at least once

The 5/10 game very rarely runs at the casino. My BR gives me 25 100BB BIs for the game. I want to get a feel for how that game runs, so that I can acclimate myself for other 5/10 games around the country without the sticker shock - if I do wind up going pro.

Been about a week since I've updated. Not getting many more responses on here, so I'm kind of like meh on the whole thing. I do remind myself that this whole series is to just prove that with hard work and determination, you can do what you want to do.

This month has started with about a 5 BI downswing. I'm not worried about because there have been a couple of mistakes that I've made. Pretty big mistakes as well. So I know why a lot of it happened. One of them was a total ****ing brain fart disaster of a hand. After that hand, I told myself I'd never let myself play a hand that badly.

There was a BTN straddle from some young looking asian kid. Very aggro preflop and postflop, took his sweet old time with every decision. One player limps. I look at 99 UTG and limp as well. Mistake #1. Don't limp, raise. Even if aggro asian kid BTN straddles, don't limp. A couple of other players limp and he raises to $60. BB folds. I decide to raise to $150. Folds to him who calls.

Flop ($330): 774
I bet $170. He raises to $400. I decide to be like "oh hell naw" and jam. But I tank and do this. He thinks for a bit and calls. He flips over QQ and down goes $1k.

Just a terrible hand on my part overall. Granted, I don't like the way he played it either. QQ is almost never good here against an unknown. But this is how the hand should play. BB limps, I raise to $45, folds to BTN who 3bets to $135, I call. I check, he bets $175, I call. Turn. Check, bet $300, I fold.

I also played in of the softest 1/2 games ever....and lost. 3 old guys playing literally ATC and calling every bet and raise and donk betting. And they ran hotter than the sun. The play at that table might have been just like an online play money table.

There is one hand I for sure want to post up here. I don't want to name names on here, but shout out to the player of this hand. I do respect his game and think he's a very solid pro. I don't know what to think regarding the hand and actually posted it in another forum to get some advice. We're 5 handed, he opens to $15 in CO. I see AT in BTN and decide to flat. Think flatting SH in position is far better than 3betting as he will have a wide range that I don't want to condense with a 3bet. SB calls as well.

Flop ($50): T53
Check, Villain bets $25, I call (easy flat), SB calls.

Turn ($125): 3
Check, V bets $90. This is where I started to perk up a bit. Why does he bet a higher percentage on the turn than the flop? I do understand that there are a lot of hands that can call on the turn, like the Tx. I think some flush draws are raising flop and if it does come OTR, it's fairly obvious and it won't get paid off. I flat, SB folds.

River ($305): 7
V bets $400. I tanked for a bit. I lose to T7 now, but there is only one suited combo and I don't think, even 4 handed, that he is playing T7o. I do lose to all of the overpair combos. I personally did not think he would overbet overpairs. That's the key in this hand. If I go with that belief, this is a call every time. Now, I did wind up calling and he flipped over Q8o.

Going over the hand away from the table...I'm not 100% sold on my call. I point specifically to a concept that I've seen on a training website. This seems like the perfect spot to overbet with overpairs. Because every draw in the earth bricked and players who overbet are normally nutted or aired, it should force the caller to call with a wider range. To counter this, we can overbet with TPTK, top pair, and overpairs. Non nutted hands. Of course this kind of makes a river overbetting range unbalanced, but this is lollive poker, where balance against most players is overrated.

But then the corollary to that is if he understands that, then where does he draw the line? If it's JT+, I'm 47% against the range without accounting for any bluffs. I know as well that he has bluffed me in the past with some aggressive lines. I also just can't get over the fact that most players let their emotions get the best of them and just want to get value on that hand. But it's still a very interesting hand and I'm still not sure how I feel about it.

Then my session yesterday was just a mind****. Bluffed twice into the nuts. In another one, called a large river bet with an overpair (a mistake) against a boat. Probably the worst regular 2/5 player...just kept running into the nuts against him. I liked both bluffs that I ran into the nuts on and would have worked had the players not had the nuts.

Overall, I still feel alright. Mistakes on my part that are correctable, adjustments that I can make, and I have been experimenting with a few plays as well. Some have worked. Others...such as 4bet bluffing T8o....have not worked. Think it's for the best in the end. If we're not experimenting with new ideas, we can't improve.

Last 4 sessions:
5.25 hours, -$1215
4 hours, -$260
6 hours, - $92
8 hours, -$993

Interesting hand with the AT. His flop bet looked very weak when there are 2 suits up there. Live players are so obsessed with protecting their hand that a real hand is almost always betting at least $35 there or more. It really got interesting when he tried to buy his way out of that bluff on the turn and river. Even though you were unsure about the hand, at least you got 3 very valuable pieces of info on him now.

1) He can open very wide preflop from late position (and we can 3bet him lighter for value, especially IP).
2) He may have a bet sizing tell on the flop (to be confirmed with more play).
3) He is capable of overbet bluffing the river, and 3 barreling air.
4) Any other tells you observed during this hand...

So even though it was a somewhat light call down, if you play vs this guy enough I'd say it was worth it (without being results oriented). Plus he may hesitate to empty the clip vs you next time!

I hope you keep posting, I've been reading this thread for months, and just moved to the live poker arena myself, after 12 years online. I find it very inspiring and interesting.

Your upswing will return, we all go though stretches where we run into the top of their ranges, and it sucks while it lasts. Keep up the nice work!

Lol the CU villain in the AT must of been a maniac/bad LAG or something. By default i would fold the river vs. a normal villain we block a lot of his bluffing range with A so our EV will go down for calling + triple barrels on this run out and in general = value heavy. Pre + flop & turn were awesome

Now that i re-read that post the solid pro you mentioned is prolly some FPS Bad reg who is a fish (there are a ton of them out there in live poker 2016 lol), barreling off Q8o there is horrendous, i hoped you laughed your ass off at him when you called (tilt him even more )

Thinking a bit logically/getting into their head a bit someone would only use that sizing exploitatively (which looks like he thinks we will over-fold a lot to a large sizing) so try to range him and exploit his range for that ****ty bet sizing here which makes 0 sense. This isnt a board texture or run out/spot where over-betting would ever be a +EV strat or make sense.

Thanks! You will find live poker a lot more relaxing and enjoyable than online. Online you become sequestered in a room for hours upon end dick waving with HUDs, trying to play this unbeatable strategy as close as possible with very little room for creativity. Live is a whole different animal. You have these different personalities and a lot of the players are there to drink and have fun. One thing I can't stress enough is to try and talk. Be pleasant, be happy, smile a lot and try to make people like you. Good luck with your live venture!

There is a tell that I observed and pretty much confirmed, but I'm not going to say it on here.

I do think that the betsizing was used because he does think I'll overfold a lot. And this is because I try to portray as TAG of a style as I can because that's the best way to win at the small/mid stakes. I do have to disagree though - I think it's a fine spot to overbet. As a caller IP and given the board texture, I either have a draw that missed or a T/99. The problem with that though becomes I'm 3betting 99 preflop in that position for value. So I really have a T or missed draws. 98cc, 76cc, 87cc, J9cc, 86cc, 97cc.

But for every club combo I may have that would take this line, there's probably 4 or 5 Tx combos. If the ratio is that far out of balance, and the obvious draws miss, then he doesn't have to worry about blowing hands out of the water. And this is especially if he thinks that I am paying attention to board textures because I probably would think "hey, he's trying to blow me off of my hand after a missed draw. I CAWL."

I have to say that I don't agree with the hand that was chosen to do it with. It had a club and one overcard. The 8 doesn't block a combo that I'm calling with and the club just blocks some of my whiffed draws. I think red AK would be a good combo to balance the overpairs with due to blocker effects. There is a big difference between T9 and AT here. So I'd rather block some of the better Tx rather than the mediocre ones.

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Did play a short session last night. 3 hours 45 minutes, +$175. Good to get back on the winning side after a 4 session losing streak. One of the better tables that I've seen for the first 3 or so hours. Loud, drinking, insane min raises and min 3bets. I think I made the most out of my card distribution, and I don't think I made many mistakes. I bet a turned top two pair when the turn put the flush out for value and folded when raised. Think it's fine since he has hands like KxTc, Kx9c, KxQc, and other top pair hands that will call. Just so happened that he put in a huge raise for whatever reason with his shaking hands. Ha.

Also had a weird hand where I accidentally value bet turn and river. 7 handed, I opened 44 from UTG to $20, MP young guy calls. Seems very aggro but way too loose.

Flop ($45): AA8
I check, he bets a lackadaisical $25, I call.

Turn ($95): 3
I check, he bets $50, I raise to $110, he calls.

River ($315): Q
I bet $120, he calls. I don't like bluffing on the Qc river, but I do play AK/AQ/AJ this same way a lot of the time. Especially if I have the diamond. I flip over my 44 sheepishly and he flips over K3 and MHIG. That's a lesson. Never just muck your cards and say good call. Always flip them over.

(I had never seen this player before, so if I knew he called down so light I would not have tried to bluff him off of 8x or 77/66/55/99 etc).

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

I said that I wanted X amount of money before turning pro. I might take my attempt at going pro a bit sooner. This is something I've been thinking about for the past month or so. It would take some extenuating circumstances for me to do it. But here we are. Over the last month and a half or so, my company has been making layoffs and cutting some benefits and changing their entire structure, putting more work on everyone. I'm having a hard time coming into work everyday when I know there is no room for growth for me. I'm having a hard time doing the work when I don't believe in the company. The people I work with are great, and god bless them. I like my bosses, I like my bosses boss...but it seems like everything is slipping away.

So, I have two or three options:

-I can stick with the company and go back to school.
-I can apply and obtain another job and go back to school.
-I can quit the working world for now and play poker as a profession while I go back to school.

1 seems tough. If all this stuff has changed for the worse, how am I going to be able to stick through it for 2+ years?

2 seems a bit more reasonable, but I really wonder if I can get the same rate of pay and vacations somewhere else that I am right now.

3 seems to me to be the best path. I can give it my go. If I give it a go and take online classes (I need ~2 years to complete a bachelor's program), I can explain a resume gap, get a degree that is pretty much required for moving up in the world, and say I tried. If I succeed more than I thought I would, I can make a true profession from it. I have experience in my field, so that won't be an issue. It isn't the ideal circumstances. I would love to have my loans paid off, I still owe a little over $12k. I have talked to my GF about this, and she supports me 100%. If I did #3, I would work the rest of the year out so that I could make a plan. And, if in a month time I don't think the plan would work, then I wouldn't have made a rash decision. If I think it would work, then I would just follow the plan.

Good luck in making your decision. If you do choose 3, you can always add a part time job in the mix if need be.

Sent from my SM-G935P using 2+2 Forums

you gotta do what you feel is best for you obv. personally, if i were you the way you described the situation at your place of employment i would choose 3 and i wouldnt even wait till the end of the year and give your 2 weeks notice now at your job(why stay ata place you dont have to and be miserable any longer?). you've already proven you can win online and against much easier comp live. your GF is already on board which is a plus. pretty safe to say your expected hourly is gonna be much greater than what youre getting paid at your current job right?

continuing school is a great thing no matter what path you choose for so many reasons, and no matter how much you beat poker for you may just get "bored" with it one day and not wanna play full time anymore. as long as youre willing to stay disciplined and put in the hours no matter how good or bad its going at the tables and arent gonna gamble in the pit at all then i say you should absolutely go for it if its what you truly want, best of luck!

To me it seems like school and playing poker for a living would make a great mix. I think you've already proven that you can do it. It'd be a matter of maintaining the poker game you've put together so far and improving upon it. I think the ingredients are all there. You have the character and experience to win. You have a casino w/as many as 33 tables going at once(lucky if there's 2 1/2NL games going at the casino I go to). Seems like a pretty sizeable player pool to me. I would want to be mindful of players catching on to my game, but w/a larger player pool that will take more time and I think you would adjust as needed when that happened anyway. You have a gf who supports it. Not sure how much she knows about poker. I would prob not share too much about daily wins/losses I think. Not sure she knows about variance. I'd try to focus on talking about how I played and what I could have done better rather than results.

As for mixing up school and work(poker) it seems you could stick to 2/5 and 1/2(and maybe try some 5/10 eventually) and win at an hourly rate higher than what you were making at your job. In other words you could work fewer hours for the same weekly pay, thus freeing up time to study for school(and poker) and spend time w/your gf, etc. Plus, w/the extra experience and prob extra time to study poker you'll be logging even more hours per week improving your poker game than you have been thus far.

I would want to leave the job on a positive note tho. Keep it positive w/coworkers, bosses, everyone. 2 weeks notice, so forth. You never know if associates from your old job will be a lead for a different one down the road. Also, you want a good reference ofc.

I would want to keep my options open. Getting a degree is great. W/your work ethic and smarts I think you won't have any trouble getting hired at a similar job or better to what you are doing now if you decide poker is too boring or whatever. It's far from boring to me, but I've come across that here and there from posters who I think play for a living. Flexible schedule, be your own boss, play this fun game, prob make a lot more per hour--sounds great to me. If it ever gets boring you can cross that bridge when you get there.

I agree tho that a month or whatever to decide seems sensible. Not something you want to rush into indeed. GL whatever you decide to do! I gotta say your success inspired me to start playing live again a few weeks ago.

I've been saying that school is a must for a while in this string of blogs. The truth of it is that whenever I did go back to school, I would have to give up either poker or work. Those three could not coexist unless I wanted no social life. That's obviously something that isn't an option for me anymore with my girlfriend.

The reason why I'm not leaving immediately is very financial. In the next month and a half there are three paid days off for holidays. I can't pass those up. I would also, in one of the weirdest vacation policies I've seen, have to pay vacation back. I used all of the days that I would earn through the end of the year, but technically I would not have earned the last bit of my vacation. Things may change in the next month and get way better and I want to make sure that I know what I'm getting myself into. From IRAs to health insurance to taxes and other ways to make money on the side (stocks, investing in the housing market, etc.)

I don't plan on burning bridges. I really like my coworkers and bosses. It's more about the direction of the company. And the way it's policies are set up and it's being run, it makes my job almost impossible. When you combine an impossible job with fewer and fewer opportunities for advancement, it becomes dead end.

This year, my entire poker hourly - online and live - is 2x my job's hourly. I would also have much more time to study and more free time. And, like I said earlier, I would finally have my shot. Thanks for the good luck wishes, good luck to you as well Ed!

I have played just one session since my last update. Yes, just one session. 2 hours 10 minutes, +$445. Session length was because it was like 8pm on a Monday night and there were literally just 3 1/2 tables going - neither being full. At that time there are usually 7 or 8 tables.

There is no burnout or anything like that. I want to play. I want to play a lot. I'm not going to get my volume goal for this month or even come close to getting it. I'm going to fall well short. Life **** has gotten in the way. I'm spending more time with my girlfriend or having crappy hours at work. I need to figure out how the **** I'm going to get more play in, because 30 hours in a month is pathetic (granted, add that with a full time job and it doesn't seem shabby).

In life news, I have been transferred to a new location. It's actually one of the more important locations in the city, so a new change of pace may be nice. I told myself that I would give this new location a chance. My main goal is to turn pro and at least go to school still. Staying a little longer, if it is bearable and I do not get a doom and gloom feel just walking in, can only help my financial situation for if and when I do leave.

One thing I would like to point out on here is that I've been listening to a lot of arguments recently about "should you go pro, should you not go pro, yada yada yada." There are a couple of themes that abound.

1) Financial stress. I understand poker is a performance based income. So is every other job. I mean, yeah sometimes you can slack off at work or not be your best and still get a paycheck, but you get fired if you perform too bad. Plus in poker, there is tons of downtime. Pay attention to almost every hand but decisions take so long that you have time to just relax your mind. Also, if you aren't rolled enough then it's taxing. But if you are, it's just like every other job and you can comfortably play poker.

2) Burnout. One thing I don't see enough about isn't just burnout, but that every other job gives you burnout. You do something for years, you get burnt out. The real world isn't all rainbows and sunshine; you will lose passion for things. You have to accept that and move on.

3) Hours. So many don't put in a lot of hours every week or year. Why not? A lot of it that I hear is just laziness. People want to do other things. People need motivation. Poker players are lazy. I understand if maybe you only play 1800 hours in a year because you could be playing bad or tilted a few days, and then taking a couple of weeks for vacations. You have to show up. You have to play. You're playing a game for a living for ****s sake; how hard is your life that you can't get motivated to show up to work. Some people literally have to clean **** up or go in and be janitors or go fire people. And you can't show up to play a game.

I don't think 1 and 3 will affect me. 2 is just something that may happen and I would have to get over it.