This will be my third attempt at a PG&C thread. Some things have changed to where I believe this one has the chance of being updated more frequently and thus hopefully more successful than the previous ones.

I’ve recently moved to Las Vegas, NV from Indiana, with a short stay in Texas in between. The move had nothing to do with poker, but more of a change of scenery for my family and I. Believe it or not, it was the wife’s decision to move here, and she rarely ever gambles.

In July 2018 I quit my office job after they cut back approx. 1/3 my salary, and became a traveling poker dealer under the guise that I would deal the circuit for 1 year, move to Vegas and deal poker for a living. Things didn’t quite go as planned.

The year on the road dealing was harder on myself and on my family than we originally thought. We fought through it though and made it to May 2019 where I started dealing the WSOP. The kids went with their grandparents for the summer and my wife came to Vegas with me. By the time the WSOP has started I was already burnt out from dealing. Also during the year I figured out that landing a job in Vegas after the series was a feat of itself. So during the series I started looking at other options.

Eventually I landed a full-time non-poker job mid WSOP. I wanted to finish out the WSOP so my new employer let me work PT while working the WSOP full-time for the last 3 weeks. During that time, the wife and I found a place in Henderson, she found a job, and after the series we went back to Texas/Indiana. Packed up all of our belongings and the kids, and made the trip cross country to begin the new life in Vegas.

Now my plans for poker & life.

I’ve always been a recreational player, but am serious, or at least somewhat serious about the game and improving my skills. I’ve mostly always played $1/2 or $1/3 and have occasionally taken shots at $2/5 or $5/5.

Living in Vegas is the first time I’ve ever lived in a place where a casino is near by, previously I always lived 1.5+ hours away, therefore making it hard to play regularly with a job and a family. Now I have the opportunity to play more often without neglecting the family.

Some of the things I need to improve on:

- Keeping more accurate records - Previously I would play so infrequently that I would either forgot to log, or lose records in between sessions. Sometimes my sessions would be 2-3 weeks apart.

- Writing down hands during my session to discuss later - I’ve always been decent at this, but they were few and far between.

- Reading/Studying more - Over the years, reading/studying poker became stale. I need to regain the spark.

Non poker improvements:

- Become a better writer - English and writing were always my 2 least favorite subjects in school. I’ve always been fascinated by blogs. I guess in order to have the chance at a successful or at least more entertaining blog, I better work on those skills!

- Become more physically fit - Currently I’m 6’-0” and close to 250 lbs. I hold my weight well IMO, but losing some lbs would definitely not hurt

- Read more non-poker books/forums - I want to start reading more. Whether it be fiction or informational books on other subjects. I want to start a list of “must reads” and attempt to read at least 1 book a month.



***More to come about poker in the following post***

Since living in Vegas I’ve logged around 15 hours of live (-$500) and I’ve played 1 tournament (+$240)

I currently do not have a set aside bankroll.

I have a decent paying job that allows for the bills and other necessities for the family are taken care of. Also I set aside money each week for a little bit of savings and also $$ for activities with the family.

I’ll be looking at taking some shots at $1/$2 or $1/3 to start to build a roll. Once I get one started it will stay as a poker roll.

I’ll be looking at playing maybe 2-3 nights at week and putting in around 15-20/hrs per week in.

I am not someone looking to go pro, but just supplement my income a little once I gain build a little bit of a roll.

So for now....

Current bankroll: ~$200 (lol)

I’m similar in that I’m not looking to go pro, I’m looking to get good. GLGL

Very cool, hope this goes well for you!

I think the keeping better records and writing down hands to discuss later are very achievable and useful goals, but I'd suggest thinking through what and how you want to track info so it ends up being useful. Basically, create a template for what you want to track and think through how it is useful when explaining to others or just re-reading it yourself. Coming up with a good shorthand and series of acronyms helps.

I'm a total rec/fish and don't know much about poker, but when I decided to play a few times a month and lost 6 sessions in a row, I realized I needed to find a way to assess if I was just unlucky or playing terribly. I took notes on the Notes app on my phone. I started by tracking every hand, but that became too tedious. Then I tracked only the big hands, and that didn't tell me whether I was bleeding money making dumb calls preflop. I decided to track every hand I put $ in (unless it was checking or folding preflop from the blinds). That ended up being a good balance for me for keeping me focused on what was going on but not so often that I was on my phone the entire time.

I also don't have a set bankroll, but I don't carry around cash and my debit card only lets me take out $600 or so at a time so I can't tilt off haha. I usually play upwards of 2/5 NLHE so I've never had much more than $600 on me (maybe upwards of $1000 was the highest).

A few updates about my first few sessions while living in Vegas.

8/3

$1/3 @ SouthPoint

I buy in for $300 and my very first hand of my very first session while living in Vegas I look down at AA in the big blind. UTG2 raises to $12, 2 callers. I raise to $50. UTG2 Raises to $150..I shove and he calls. He has KK. K in the window. WELCOME TO LAS VEGAS!!

I buy in for another $200 and the next hand I play I'm dealt QQ. I flop top set but guy turns a flush and I lose that $200.

I played a total of 25 minutes and lost $500

8/4

I decide to deposit $150 on WSOP.COM. I played a $50 tournament and bubbled but I sattied into the $320 - $100k GTD. I ended up finishing in 14th for $750ish.

I follow this up with a 5th place finish on 8/5 in the $100 - $10k on WSOP.COM for another $700ish cash.

8/7

I head back to the SouthPoint and play $1/3

I play for 4 hours and end up winning $550.

I won a 3 way - $1,200ish pot during this session.

I'm in the BB with 68hh
There is a UTG straddle.

MP ($350) raises to $15. CO, BTN, SB all call. I call. Straddle ($500) raises to $75. MP calls and BTN calls. I decide to call.

FLOP: ($250ish) 4h 5x Qh

I'm first to act and have around $275 left. and shove. Straddle reshoves and MP calls.

I river the flush and Straddle shows AA and MP shows KQx.

I get berated by the straddle about how bad I am. I love it when people berate me at the table!

Played a session on 8/10 @ Bellagio. Started out up +$150 @ $2/5 in the first 30 minutes. Then things went down hill and I ended up losing $800. Not really any interesting hands. I flopped top set on a KQx 2 diamond board and the guy check/shoved J8dd and gets there for a $600 pot. Then AK < 58 against the same guy on a K67 flop. I lost an additional....cards were just falling weird that night.

8/12: played at SouthPoint and was there only 30 minutes. I lost with KK, AK twice and lost $300. Was super frustrated at that point and decided to not reload.

8/16: Played the $130 - $15k GTD at Orleans. Starting with a 15k stack. And ran it up to 60k within the first 2 hours. After the first break things went south. Lost AA < 89. Then QJ < 89 on a Q10xxJ run out. The final hand of the night I defended my BB with 99. Flop AAK and I’m done with the hand...check/check. Turn is the dagger. 9. I bet and he calls. River is a brick...I bet and he shoved. Wasn’t in love with it but a fold would have left me with 12bb. I call and he shows AK.

I like the Orleans Friday tournament. It’s great value, not a terrible structure and pays out close to $5k for first. The players there are miserable and terrible. So that takes away from the experience a little.

I see that RedRock has a pay to play promotion. 20hrs a week gets you $150. May try to nit it up at $1/2 and grind that promotion out in 3 sessions or so. We’ll see how it goes at least!

Poker can be very frustrated. I wish you good luck on your journey and your thread.

Thank you.

Even if no one reads, it’s a secondary way of keeping track and being able to look back and reflect.

Work out number 1 is in the books

Currently I sit at 6’0 - 245 lbs. I’ve worked out in the past but it never became a habit.

I put on the workout clothes, found an old inhaler in the drawer, grabbed my headphones and to the gym I went.

Jumped on the treadmill after stretching and planned to run 1 mile. I got about .3 miles in and had to take a hit from the inhaler, it was empty. ****. I ended up stopping at a 1/2 mile as I felt like I was dying. But I wanted to get my cardio in.

After about a 2 minute break to catch my breath I head to the stationary bike where I biked for 1.5 miles.

Finished the workout with doing 5 sets x 10 reps @ 65lbs on the bench press.

These numbers are not impressive by any means. Didn’t want to burn myself out and want to ease into it.

Woke up this morning and headed directly to the gym. Although I really didn't feel like being there.

I ended up running a 16:09 mile. Not great, but not bad for my first ran mile in probably at least 5+ years.

I'm on a small online grind today. I won a seat into the $320 - $100k GTD on WSOP & will also be playing the $100 - $25k GTD Turbo Series event.

Lets run good online!

Cashed in the $320-$100k. Got unlucky with 3 tables left when AA was cracked all in pre. Still happy with the results.

Haven’t played much in the past week. Work has been busy and I’ve came down with a weird head cold.

Last Friday 8/23 I played the Orleans $130-$15k. Was in for 2 bullets but never gained traction. However my wife had came to the casino with me and won about $600 in slows. She only risked $30. She doesn’t really care for gambling much but came for the free drinks!

I played Saturday night at SouthPoint but lost $300 pretty quickly. QQ < AK and JJ < QQ

Wednesday I played online and FTd and $11-$3k tournament on ACR for almost $300

Friday I played the Orleans tournament again and finished 22nd for $290. Had a big stack on the bubble but lost QQ < A9 & AQ < A7. When we got ITM I only had 11bb.

Playing the $230 Wynn tournament today, then I most likely won’t play a lot until WSOP Online Circuit. My work schedule is getting a little busier.