ive been meaning to make a post like this somewhere on 2p2 but just couldnt figure out the words to express this idea

this is a great post imo

I made it $15 ... AA flats. KK in BB makes it $45. I call. AA makes it $130. BB calls.

BB has $170 behind. AA has about $300+ behind.

I got married to the hand preflop. It was a mistake. Bigger than I thought.

Thanks. Definitely realize crap like that crushes the win rate.

Had a horrible session Monday night. Just nothing went right. Lost $1,054 in a little less than 7 hours.

Was down $900, started grinding some back. Was down $550.

Lost about a $900ish pot with a flopped set of 6s in the final 15 minutes or so. Think I made some bad betsizing mistakes in it, particularly the turn.

I get 66. Limp UTG. Guy who is raising ATCs makes it $13. BB, an Asian who was the other of my two targets at the table, calls.

Flop is T96. I check to raiser. He makes it $15. He's got air 100 percent. Asian calls. I pop it to $80. Fold. Asian calls.

Turn is a 5. Rainbow board.

Asian checks. I bet $125. In retrospect, I should have bombed bigger. He said he would have called an all-in, so ... There's a little more than $200 in the pot.

River K ... He checks. I shove for $215. He snaps with QJo

Just a bad night all around.

Will probably play Tuesday night. I need to put in more hours than I have this month.

One thing I have to make sure of before I play again is that I get my mind straight. I've been in a really bad pattern of starting off a month great, then spiraling downward. I only started tracking results again seriously in September. I won about $3,000, then lost back $2,400 ... I finished up for the month, but it should have been better. I started October off up $2,700 before Monday, so I'm still up $1,600 in 43 hours.

I'd really like to put together a solid month of at least $30/hr for at least 100 hours.

Thanks for a good read and the best of luck to you mr Kelly. You are writing good and adress some issues that i am thinking alot about these days- as i also dream about going pro and grind livepoker for a living.

Brave to leave your work for the last 30 years or so to pursue your love for poker, i respect that alot

How would you describe the games in Vegas by the way to someone who has never been there? Going down there to grind in November and is pretty curious.

Also think your being harsh on yourself when it comes to the AA vs KK hand at Aria against OMC. Even the best players can count on one finger they have been able to get away from KK preflop with normal sized stacks (not very deep).

Good luck Chippy.

You already know how I feel about choosing between a job-with-a-paycheque-and-poker-as-a-hobby versus poker-as-a-job. But I wish you well, and hopefully some doors will remain open for you to re-enter if things don't go great.

GopenedthreadlookingforpicturesofClaireDanes,wasdi sappointedG

Change that to "I'd really like to put together a solid month of at least 100 hours" and I like where your head is at.

Remember, w/r comes with good play, but variance is still a thing. Concentrate on being present (i.e. 100 hours) and making good plays, then the winrate will come as a product of that.

I like having definite, REACHABLE goals. 30/hr winrate is something that you can't always control, whereas you can always control your time spent at, or away from, the table.

Concentrate on the things you CAN control, and let the rest fall where it may.

Thanks. I thought the games in Vegas varied from pretty nitty/people just there to grind bonuses, etc. (MGM) to aggro (Caesar's, Planet Hollywood) to OK (Wynn).

When are you going? I will be there again Nov. 9-14 (Arrive Sunday, leave Friday; I think those are the dates).

Claire Danes? Hmm.



I agree that I don't go into a month with the expectation of an hourly WR ... It's just that September went south in a hurry and Monday's session clobbered October's WR. I really just want to finish the month well. I guess a number is trivial, but I will be disappointed if the graph doesn't trend upward in the next two weeks.

Cool, we are also coming down November 9.- we are staying until 19 November though, ten days. I just cant wait to play at Aria, Venetian, Wynn and the other top rooms in Vegas, i have only played in Norway and some casinos in Sweden before so pretty excited

Think we arrive at around ten o clock in the evening local time- going with United Airlines.

We are staying at Stratosphere by the way. Are you going there alone to grind? Would be fun to meet up during our stay, i plan to put in alot of hours during my stay in Vegas, looking to build up my bankroll and gonna play both 1/3 NL cash and some MTT tournies also.

If I'm in Vegas during that time I'd be happy to meet up with you as well

Yeah, would be happy to meet up with you also Duke- you seem like a really cool guy. I shoot you a PM so we dont hijack Kellys thread here with all the Vegas talk

Sweet. I'll be sure to teach you how to smile and fist pump a fish after they suck out on you

Chip, what's going on with the Vegas move? Is it still happening?

Lol GL at teaching me not to tilt when clueless monkeys suck out on me Duke. I just cant stand it. My poker friends views me as Phil Hellmuth 2

Sent from my LG-D855 using 2+2 Forums

You can be whiny when you have a million bracelets and are literally the face of an entire community

Are you putting in all of your volume in the same casino? How has it been spending ample amounts of time in the same, somewhat smallish player pool? Any issues either way?

I think you're an alright guy Chip. Even when we played together, you seemed like an all right guy. But you have significant leaks in a ton of spots that should have been cleaned up months (if not a year) ago. No doubt you can be a winning player playing the way you do, because Chester's is a complete joke of a place (btw, does that guy with the bunch of tattoos still play there), but if you really want to be serious about poker and making it a profession.. you need to plug up your leaks and build a solid ground before moving on up. Otherwise, you'll get crushed.

Just now found this, subbed. It's clear you already know what you need to do to get to where you want to be, it's just a matter of actually doing it. Really though, just NIT UP. That's all it really takes for the games you're in. Just stick to your bread and butter plays, and avoid the fancy stuff. GL.

Played about 4 hours, 15 minutes Wednesday night and won $740.

Session got off to a bad start with me bluffing the river on a missed straight draw on the button ... Top pair on the flop paired on the river and I thought I could sell trips. I couldn't.

Hit a lot of good hands. Set of Qs. Set of Js. Set of 2s. TPGK. Seems like I have been at a lot of tables lately with people buying in shorot and shoving turns when I have monsters. Unfortunately, they are only shoving like $100-$150. But when you get three of those in a night, they add up, as they did Wednesday.

Back at it Friday night. I hope to get 70 hours in by the end of October. I played slightly less than 50 (48ish) since Oct. 1 after missing the first couple days of the month with jet lag coming back from Vegas.

Nice session, always nice to flop sets! It sucks when it's vs a shorty... unless it is set under set.

Other than the trip to Vegas, I have played exclusively at one room since Aug. 1.

The player pool is growing, but it's still not big enough that I can't avoid being at the table with friends. Just impossible. The other night I put my card on the table and walked to the cashier to buy chips. By the time I got back, one friend had already table changed. It's the second time he has done it this week. The other night I flopped quad Js ... I was in the hand with cAmmAndo.

I make friends when I play. It's kind of a curse. There's a woman who has become a regular at the games I play. We've become friends - just friends as she is happily married.

Then there are the regs who I want to stack every single time I get in a hand with them. It's not that they are bad people - some are annoying, some are miserable - but they are 'villains' at the table.

Things like sitting at a table with 2 friends definitely affects your win rate.

There are no friends at the poker table. You may avoid confrontations with them or marginal moves preflop like 3bet bluffing, but always go for value with your value hands.

If they soft play you and you don't soft play them, that helps your winrate.

Also soft playing is terrible for the game... One edge we should have is better tilt control than opponents. When a table has 7 good players and 2-3 bad players it's an ok game. If a couple good players get stuck and go on tilt the game is suddenly really good. If the good regs are softplaying then they are less likely to get stuck, then there's no blood in the water.

We want blood in the water... because we're sharks. Blood in the water means it's time to hunt, and we love to hunt...

To clarify... That said you don't want to be going out of your way to tangle with good players, just don't be slowing down with value hands or folding good hands, or huge draws to be nice...

Maybe I am a cold-hearted prick, but when you sit at my table, I'm looking to get your money and win hands from you. That's the point of the game. I am fine with being friendly and being friends with my opponents, but when you're in hands, you should be out for blood.

Who gets to decide what "the point of the game is?"

Does thehelper get to decide what "the point of the game is"? for everyone?

Chip, I ended up moving to Maryland to grind Horseshoe. Not in love with the games here, so I'm considering a move back to Philly. How's Chester's?

I think I've used this analogy before, but I play in a bottom-of-the-barrel hockey league. A couple of the teams are made up of older guys like ourselves and we've played each other a zillion times over the years, and after the game we go upstairs and drink together. We play a clean game on the ice (everyone's got to go to work tomorrow), but we try our hardest (as bad as that may be, cuz we all suck, but whatever). When they are coming down on me, they are doing their absolute best to score on me, and I'm doing my absolute best to stop them, and we'll laugh/joke/brag about it afterwards up in the bar. It's a fun friendly competition, and we would have it no other way.

Poker is no different, imo.

GyourlocalneighbourfriendlycutthroatG

Played a little more than 5 hours Friday night and lost $314.

Just a crappy, crappy session. I made another hugely stupid mistake, got lucky, then got unlucky in a $1,100 pot. Got it in as a 75 percent favorite. Oh well.

I was actually up more than $700 prior to that hand and was considering calling it a very short night. I knew I was tired before the session even started. I go to bed, sleep for an hour, then wind up awake for 2-3 hours almost every night and it happened against Thursday night/Friday morning.

I am barely even when the following hand happens. I just couldn't bring myself to hit the fold button and save $200. I really don't beat anything on the turn. Villain was pretty tight.

I raise OTB to $15 with AQo. Three callers.

Flop is A94 rainbow. Checks to me and I bet $40. One caller.

Turn is a 5 putting two spades out. Villain checks. I almost check behind and don't. I bet $60. He raises to $160. I have $201 behind after the $60 bet. I shove. He snap calls with 44.

It was pretty stupid, but I convinced myself 'I'm at the top of my range, yada, yada, yada. He could have two pair and I have outs ... yada, yada, yada.' Instead, get it all-in drawing dead.

Rebought, played about 20 minutes before table broke and decided not to go on the wait list.

Here's probably a questionable hand that most people I don't think would play.

Villain 1 is a reg. Late 40s. Stuck.

Villain 2 is a reg. Late 30s. Super aggressive and bad.

Villain 2 blind raises to $20 from SB. Hero is in BB with A3o.

Villain 1 doesn't look at his cards and calls the $20 blind. V2 has no option but to check.

Hero raises to $88. Both players call.

Flop AJ9 with two spades. Well, I squeezed and flopped top pair. I bet $200. Villain 1 calls. Villain 1 looks at his hand. Turn 2. I ship remaining $200. Villain 1 calls. (Villain 2 folded). River 2.

Villain 1 has A4. We chop.