Thanks for the sub baannii!

Hello 2+2ers and Internet citizens! I know its been a few days so I wanted to update the thread and give some new info on my journey. When we last left our hero, the January 2016 downswing was in full swing and I hoped to start February out on the right foot.

I went to Hollywood Columbus on Friday after work and tried to set this ship straight but alas, my runbad continued. Nothing super exciting, though after losing a 300bb pot with TP+OESD by running into the flop nuts against a fishy-ish player, I decided to call it a day. I knew my headspace wasn't in a good place, I wasn't having fun, and I'd probably just make poor decisions going forward.

So stats for that session...

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2/5/2016 Session Stats

Earnings: -$400
Earnings w/Bonuses: -$400
Hours: 2.55
Hourly: -$156.86
BB per hour: -69.7

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On to Saturday, I decided to throw off the shackles of Hollywood and attempt to get my mojo back by changing the venue. Headed to The Shark Tank Poker Club (one of the poker clubs in Columbus) in hopes of breaking our streak. And guess what...it worked! Great game with some action players plus running normally let me book a win and try to end this one out of the last nine session losing streak. I actually think I could have been up another buy-in if I didn't run KK into AK and get shown the A-ball on the flop.

So stats for that session and overall...

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2/6/2016 Session Stats

Earnings: $395
Earnings w/Bonuses: $395
Hours: 4.01
Hourly: $98.34
BB per hour: 45.67

February 2016 Stats

Earnings: -$5
Earnings w/Bonuses: -$5
Hours: 6.56
Hourly: -$0.76
BB per hour: -0.40

Total 2016 Stats

Earnings: -$429
Earnings w/Bonuses: $71
Hours: 39.08
Hourly: -$10.98
BB per hour: -5.50

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Hope everyone is having a great start to the month!

- yurk

Hello friend,

I would encourage you to start postin at least a couple hands per session in the LLSNL forum. Anything you think is even remotely interesting. I've read through your HHs here and there are a few times when you call something standard that probably shouldn't be. My guess is there are some significant leaks both preflop and post flop that are really hindering your bottom line. The good news is that they are likely glaring and easily rectified. Good luck!

Thanks for advice! I'll try and be more active over there and glean some knowledge.

I thought you played good, but you maybe overthought some things! The game wasn't super agro, nor did it have any players who really applied a lot of pressure. For maybe 1hr it was crazy, but for most part it was tame. The key to that table was to not pay off any river bets, and get to showdown with middle strength hands. I wasn't crazy about your K6 river bet on paired board and flush out there. You can check fold and not turn your hand to a bluff.

Thanks! I think there were some spots where I could have continued on with some hands due to how the table was playing. I'm still thinking the K6 hand was the right line on the river, maybe a tad bigger but a spot where a b/f line is the way to go.

Anyways, I'll go into the hand as best as I can recall. (Let me know Gfunkralph if I missed anything.)

Hand #1
$1/$2 NLHE
$250 Effective

PF - I limp UTG with K6, V1 calls, 5 other callers. ($14)

Too loose and spewy. I should just muck this and avoid this nonsense.

Flop - K68, 2 checks, I bet $10, V1 raises to $20, 5 players fold and I call. ($54)

I lead this flop to thin the field and build a pot against Kx. V1s small raise is strange to me, and I could see him doing this with Kx, 88, straight, flush and combo draws. Better to flat oop and reevaluate the turn.

Turn - Q, I check, V1 bets $40 and I call. ($134)

Not the worst card for the turn but it brings more possible backdoor draws into the picture. I thought about checkraising here but I couldn't pull the trigger. I think in retrospect this would have been the time to c/r to $100-$120 and shove any river if called.

River Q, I bet $80, V1 thinks about it for a few minutes and calls. ($294)

V1 shows KJo and takes it down.

Terrible river but my only hope in my mind to take this away from Kx is to b/f the river and rep spades or a set. Obviously, any raise from V1 and I'm done with the hand.

Thoughts?

Oh my! It's been a while 2+2 friends! Sorry for the small delay with an update but I honestly haven't been at the computer much the last week or so, but I have managed to get some time in on the tables. Since my last update, I've gotten three sessions under my belt but the 2016 slide continues for my bankroll. I'll go through them one by one and I have a couple hands to share.

I played a quick session over at Hollywood last Tuesday since I had the afternoon off of work for an eye doctor appointment. Don't sleep with your contacts in fellow internet travelers or you may tear your cornea! Anyways, I decided to pop in and get some hours in towards my 250 goal for 2016.

It wasn't that great of a table but I did have this hand to share.

Hand #1

$180 Effective Stacks

Villain was a middle aged man that was sort of loose/passive from what I could tell. Nothing memorable about his play in the short time I had been at the table.

PF - 2 limps to me on the BTN and I raised to $12 with T6, both blinds fold and the limpers call. ($39)

I need to stop doing this with 3-gapper hands without a really good reason against a specific villain. I guess this is just the 6-max online side of me coming out and the desire to punish/isolate limpers IP is too overpowering. I don't think this is something I should be over doing in 1/2 live games going forward and seems to be the area that has gotten me in trouble/marginal spots so far this year.

F - Q95, Both limpers check and I bet $23. 1 fold and Villain calls. ($85)

I don't see a problem with betting here but I could see a check behind as well. I usually lean towards betting as a default but I'm starting to question that in spots with this type of board texture against limp/callers that probably hits their ranges better then Axx or Kxx flops.

T - 4, Villain checks, I bet $40, Villain calls. ($165)

I don't like this bet. Should have just checked it back and realize my equity.

R - 7, Villain checks, I shove for $105, Villain tanks for a minute and calls with Q3o. ($330)

I didn't stay too long since the table wasn't great and I didn't have time to switch tables and start over.

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2/9/2016 Session Stats

Earnings: -$314
Earnings w/Bonuses:-$314
Hours: 1.63
Hourly: -$177.60
BB per hour: -88.8

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Next up, a rare Friday night trip to the Shark Tank! Since the wife was busy, I decided to maximize my free evening with a solid session at the local club. The game did not disappoint with 3 of the 10 players at the table over 500bb's deep! I managed to bob and weave and try to get involved with the deeper, looser players when possible while being attentive to avoid RIO (Reverse Implied Odds) spots when playing 300+bbs deep.

Sadly, I couldn't catch the cards and around 3am this hand came up against one of the reg-ish players that I wasn't looking to tangle with.

Hand #2

$600 Effective Stacks

Villain is a late 20s/early 30s male that has been pretty quiet but seems competent. Had suffered a few suckouts from some of the more splashy players but it didn't appear to rattle him.

PF - I straddle to $4 UTG and have T9. 3 (2 fishier players and Villain) limps and both blinds come along. I raise to $20 and all 5 call. ($120)

I don't know why I raised this up. Maybe because of my card dead run for the last hour or so made me anxious or thought I could get this heads up. Should of happily checked this through and seen a flop instead of bloating a pot out of position.

F - T93, 2 checks, I lead for $80, 1 fold, Villain calls, 3 folds. ($280)

About the best I could hope for given my optimistic raise PF. Don't know if I should have went a little larger on the sizing to maybe $100.

T - K, I bet $150, Villain calls. ($580)

Not the best turn but I still feel like I'm likely ahead here the majority of the time. I tried to set up the sizing for a nice pot sized bet on the river.

R - A, I ?

Thoughts on the river and what we should do?

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2/12/2016 Session Stats

Earnings: -$273
Earnings w/Bonuses:-$273
Hours: 5.60
Hourly: -$44.62
BB per hour: -22.31

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The last session to catch up on was on Monday, President's Day in the US so I had the day off and decided to spend the afternoon at Hollywood. Table was decent for a Monday but I'm guessing the holiday had something to do with it. Tried to really focus on the spots I was putting myself in and making the game easier. Booked a small win and called it a day.

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2/15/2016 Session Stats

Earnings: $170
Earnings w/Bonuses:$170
Hours: 4.18
Hourly: $47.30
BB per hour: 20.25

February 2016 Stats

Earnings: -$422
Earnings w/Bonuses: -$422
Hours: 19.26
Hourly: -$21.89
BB per hour: -10.95

Total 2016 Stats

Earnings: -$846
Earnings w/Bonuses: -$346
Hours: 56.90
Hourly: -$14.87
BB per hour: -7.43

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I definitely have a lot of work to do but I'm really enjoying putting this information out there on the internet page. It's helping me realize my flaws and weaknesses and focus on accountability to myself.

Thanks for reading and enjoy the rest of the week!

- yurk

On the last 2 hands, I only looked at PF and saw two massive errors. You mention that you have to stop spewwing preflop, but until you actually do, it will be tough to be a consistent winner.

Seems like you got MUBSy and I don't know why. You should've been getting in much more money before the river. Personally, I prefer a small flop 3 bet then leading turn. I think the river bluff is total spewage. You are not going to get the guy to fold a king. Seems like you were trying to find a way to win the hand because you were frustrated by a bad river rather than trying to make the most profitable decision.

T6s is way too light to be attacking multiple limps regardless of if you're playing 6 max or live imo. Attacking limps is good, but you need to have some hand value, particularly when attacking multiple limpers.

What happened on the Turn and River? Maybe you were trying to make up for the preflop spew? Both bets are too small to give you any FE, so I'm not sure what the thinking was. The Turn would be a much better spot to barrel large with deeper stacks, but as is, it's throwing good money after bad imo.

You'll get no argument from me. I think I've misled myself into believing I can outplay a typical 1/2 player and can get away with playing some speculative holdings. Obviously, my results recently are saying that I can't and if I continue to do so I will seeing similar outcomes. Thanks for the straight talk. I appreciate it!

My thinking at the time was actually the opposite of MUBS, I didn't want to blow him off the hand with draws or Kx. I'll agree with you on the river that I just didn't want to give up the hand and betting was the only way to "win" it. Thanks for the feedback!

Agree with the preflop thoughts. My thinking on the turn/river was to bet to set up a 2/3ish psb river bet since Villain was only 90bb deep to begin the hand. In retrospect, I should have just given this up on the turn and only continued if I picked up a pair/straight draw and gained a bit more equity. Thanks for taking the time to comment t_roy!

People will be stickier with top pair than you would expect. Especially top pairs that they felt were strong enough to raise the flop. Think about what you said about not wanting to blow him off draws. That doesn't really make sense, DUCY?

Yea, I don't like a 3 barrel there. In general, putting in a bet that you know will be called in order to bluff on a later street isn't good. Too much risk, too little reward. If the villain is deeper, you have more FE to make a big double barrel and more implied odds if you hit. When playing shorter effective stacks though, you just can't be as aggressive.

NP, always enjoy discussing poker.

I'm guessing because I said I don't want to move villain off his draws, only to later bet the river and try to represent the draw.

But why would you be afraid to have a draw fold on the turn? You're just giving him a chance to hit. You're not going to get any more value from a draw that bricks.

Went down to Hollywood Columbus for a quick session this afternoon. Table started really good for the first few orbits with me getting sandwiched between the two obvious marks at the table. Sadly, one busted and the other (wisely) got up and left ahead before the God Mode switch got flipped off.

I felt pretty good about my play over the few hours at the table. Trying to take some of the advice from those who commented and tighten up a bit preflop and not get myself involved in awkward post-flop situations. Tried to really focus on the other opponents when not in the hand and trying to get better at calculating pot size and bet sizings/pot odds when not involved in the hand. One of the drawbacks of not having a huge repository of hours at the live tables is my mental memory is lacking.

I have a pair of hands that I wanted to go over to see what others thought.

Hand #1

$320 Effective Stacks

Villain is a capable TAG that can get tricky and has shown the ability to float IP and seems competent.

PF - I open to $8 in MP with AQ, Villain is in the CO and calls, BTN calls as well. Blinds fold. ($27)

Standard open. Maybe a bit bigger bet sizing but this table hasn't been particularly loose. Most hands are 2-3 handed if raised since the two looser players left the game.

F - A4T, I lead for $16, Villain calls, BTN folds. ($59)

Wish I would have made this $20 but not the end of the world.

T - J, I check, Villain bets $30, I call. ($119)

Don't know if I should fire another barrel ($40ish) on this turn. Villain isn't going to stack off with Ax here so I didn't think there was value bloating this pot OOP with the obvious draw coming in on the turn plus possible straight draws or pair+draws. I don't know.

R - A, I bet $110, Villain thinks for a few minutes and folds. ($229)

Another sizing mistake I believe. I think villain is smart enough not to pay off the hand I'm representing. Obviously, 44/AJ/AT all call, but what else calls? I think $70-$80 would have been better to entice a lookup.

Hand #2

$200 Effective Stacks

Villain has only been at the table for an orbit or two and hasn't done anything noteworthy. Early 30's male is all I have to go on.

PF - I'm in MP with QQ and open to $10, Villain calls on BTN, Blinds fold. ($23)

Nothing to see here I think.

F - 985, I bet $16, Villain calls. ($55)

Decent size bet on the sort of connected middling flop to charge draws or get value from pair+draws or PPs.

T - J, I check, Villain bets $20, I call. ($95)

Meh, I don't know if I should fire here since it smacks his range in my eyes. C/C seems really weak to me but I don't know if raising would be for value or as a bluff on this turn against an unknown.

R - 7, I check, Villain bets $60, I fold. ($155)

Am I ever good here 40% of the time? I honestly don't know and thought for a few minutes and couldn't come up with enough hands I'm beating here. Seems weak but maybe the right line given how I played the hand up until the river.

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2/21/2016 Session Stats

Earnings: $195
Earnings w/Bonuses:$195
Hours: 2.25
Hourly: $74.99
BB per hour: 37.49

February 2016 Stats

Earnings: -$227
Earnings w/Bonuses: -$227
Hours: 21.86
Hourly: -$10.38
BB per hour: -5.19

Total 2016 Stats

Earnings: -$651
Earnings w/Bonuses: -$151
Hours: 59.50
Hourly: -$10.94
BB per hour: -5.47

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Hope everyone had a good weekend at the tables and finishes out the month of February on a good note!

Cheers
- yurk

Subbed.

I'm pretty sure we've played together a few times. Haven't got to read the thread yet, but good luck in the future man.

Thanks for the sub!

If you ever want to make an introduction, just let me know. I'm usually at Hollywood and/or the Tank once or twice a week.

Wanted to get a quick recap of the last few sessions and post February results. Only played about 6 hours since my last post due to other obligations and trying to enjoy the 60 degree February weather to do some house projects and spend the time outdoors.

I think I can divide February 2016 into two halves in terms of approaching the game. The first half was me thinking I'm more clever then I actually am and trying to squeeze money out of 1/2 spots that aren't there.

First Half of February 2016

Number of Sessions = 4
Hours = 13.8
Results = -$592
Hourly = -$42.89

The second half I tried to get back to basics and really try to plan out my hands and reasons for taking actions preflop. This would set me up for +EV spots postflop and keep me out of sticky situations that I don't (yet) have the skill set or history to navigate.

Second Half of February 2016

Number of Sessions = 4
Hours = 12.0
Results = +$514
Hourly = +$42.83

Obviously, extremely small sample size but I think the current mindset I approached the second half of the month is where I need to be going forward for the near future.

Yes, it's hard for me to fold when the table is doing stupid things but I'm trying to be more disciplined since I'm just not in the place I need to be with my knowledge and skill set to be able to exploit others mistakes profitably.

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February 2016 Stats

Earnings: -$78
Earnings w/Bonuses: -$78
Hours: 25.8
Hourly: -$3.02
BB per hour: -1.50

Total 2016 Stats

Earnings: -$502
Earnings w/Bonuses: -$2
Hours: 58.32
Hourly: -$8.61
BB per hour: -4.30

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Still glad to see my hourly goal for 2016 is on track and hopefully I can turn this ship around in March!

Hope everyone is having a great start to 2016 and thanks for taking the time to read my ramblings.

- yurk

Hey fellow internet travelers!

It's been a little while since I updated the thread but I wanted to let everyone know how March was going. It's been busy around these parts for me and the wifey. First off, my workplace went through a transition at the beginning of the month with our company being sold to new owners. We all knew this was happening since the later half of last year but the hectic nature of switching over systems and dealing with the associated problems made for a long past couple weeks. Secondly, Mrs. yurk and I are finishing our classes, requirements, interviews, etc. in our journey to become foster parents. Just got finished painting the future child(s) room this afternoon and still a bit of work to go but I know our lives are going to go through a big change in the next few months. Exciting!

Anyways, on the poker front of things, I've managed 5 sessions so far this month, although only two of the five were of significant time (3+ hours). The others were me just trying to get some time at the tables when I was able to fit it in with my schedule. I'm starting to feel like the 4 hour average session length goal I set for myself may well be the most difficult to achieve for me this year.

So far so good for March, I feel like the cards have tilted back in my favor on the variance side of things and that I'm playing well and focused when I've sat down. Still trying to strive for improvement in all areas and not to get tricked by the recent upswing and let my old bad tendencies reemerge.

Hopefully I can get one or two sessions in this week and stay on pace for my hour goal for 2016.

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March 2016 Stats

Earnings: $1,082
Earnings w/Bonuses: $1,082
Hours: 11.7
Hourly: $92.48
BB per hour: 46.2

Total 2016 Stats

Earnings: $580
Earnings w/Bonuses: $1,080
Hours: 70.01
Hourly: $8.28
BB per hour: 4.1

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Sorry for the lack of posts lately! Hope everyone stays with me and keeps giving me honest advice and criticism. I really appreciate it!

- yurk

How's it going interwebs?

Figured I'd drop by with an update and a hand to go over from the past week. I was able to get some good time in at the table and take advantage of some free evenings while the wife was picking up hours at her job. Exclusively "Shark Tank" sessions since my last post which brings blessings and curses compared to Hollywood Columbus. If I haven't explained in a previous post regarding the Tank, it's a private club in Columbus and has a much more aggressive, "bigger" 1/2NL game than Hollywood. Max is $300 OR up to 75% of the biggest stack on the table. As one could probably figure out, the game gets deep and plays much bigger than the $100-$400 1/2NL game at Hollywood.

The particular hand I want to go over is as follows...

The club had a $25 Splash Pot promotion going on and this hand was one of them. The dynamic so far (every 15 minutes they did this over a 3 hour period) in the previous Splashed Pots was one of the larger stacks isolating with a psb and usually going heads up or 3 handed to a flop.

Hand #1

$220 EF.

PF - So, $25 Splash and I'm in the BB with AK. 6 limps to me and I make it $30. V1 (UTG+1), a sort of tight/passive middle aged gent, calls (because of course the old limp call for $30 is super standard), and two other players call (HJ,BTN). ($152)

Flop - AQ6

I lead for $70, V1 calls, other two fold. ($267)

My only real question is what is everyone's play here? Check/calling seemed gross. Open shove into 3 villains and pray? Let it go? I really don't know. Thinking about it as I write this, I really think I should just jam for $190 into $152 since if I bet anything I'm basically committed. Still not sure and now rambling.

Turn - 7

I shove for $120 more, V1 calls. ($659)

River - J

V1 shows T9 and scoops it up.


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Session Stats Since 03/12/2016

Earnings: $611
Earnings w/Bonuses:$611
Hours: 13.31
Hourly: $45.88
BB per hour: 22.90

March 2016 Stats

Earnings: $1,243
Earnings w/Bonuses: $1,243
Hours: 21.35
Hourly: $58.22
BB per hour: 29.10

Total 2016 Stats

Earnings: $741
Earnings w/Bonuses: $1,241
Hours: 79.66
Hourly: $9.30
BB per hour: 4.70

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Looking forward to another week of getting some good hours in at the tables with the wife out of town for the weekend. Let's all have a great week and end march and Q1 of 2016 on a good note!

- yurk

Hand is fine man. You're never folding after you see that flop so you're goal is just to keep your villains' ranges as wide as possible. Best way is to do what you did.

Thanks for the response t_roy! I see where you're coming from with your take.

I'm not actually that upset about the hand but just more concerned about bet sizing advice in these types of spots going forward.

Subbing.
Read the first half. Looks interesting. Will pick up again later.
GL.

Thanks for the sub pokerodox!

I think the sizing is right. The only thing jamming does is get you some folds that you don't want.