Subbed. Also from sydney. Playing cash games though gl. Ill be in vegas in june also

Nice, any idea yet which WSOP events you're gonna play? I hope to get around playing some actual events, but wouldn't mind just playing $200-$300 deepstack games either. I assume you play cash at Star Casino? I have literally never played live cash, but I might give it a shot at some point if the games are any good.

I made the final table last night, giving me a chance to break out of my downswing (seriously, I have not cashed in 8 (!) games ). On F2T I almost busted after running TT in JJ BvB for 20bb. Managed to build up my stack a bit by generally just jamming a lot. Then this hand helped me to get back to "healthy":

"Unlucky. -Yes, very!"
3k/6k, 7-handed. Tight-passive UTG limps in, HJ calls, I have 35k and I'm holding 76. I think I just have enough fold equity to get it through often enough, and if called I'm probably not a huge dog. There's already 21k in the pot, so I jam. Folds to HJ who calls with AQ, who turned out to be super passive/nitty. Board runs out:
Flop: 897
Turn: T
River: 7

I rake in the pot and tell him "unlucky", prompting the response "yeah, very very unlucky for me". No need to tell him I still have 40% equity there...

I proceed to pressure the blinds and shove A3o for 15bb from BB over an active BTN open and SB call (both fold) to get to ~130k. BTN in this last hand is new to table and has a huge stack. Initially I thought he was just another clueless asian young guy, but it turns out he at least knows the lingo and although his sizing is weird, he doesn't mind using his chips. Given this information I felt surprisingly comfortable in the next spot:

Punishing FPS
4k/8k, 7-handed. I have open shoved the previous three hands, K2 from SB, J9 on BTN and A8 from CO. I have not shown down a single hand since the 76 hand. I'm UTG+1 and have A6, UTG limps in. Given my recent pressure and with active asian kid in BB with big stack, I don't want to raise/fold here and have too much to jam. Most of the players on table are passive enough that just calling will let me see a flop regularly, I call. It folds to BB who checks.
Flop AKJ, pot 28k. Checked to me and I bet 18k. Young asian kid raises to 55k, UTG folds. BB has been active and has not raised a limped pot pre, so he doesn't have AK-AT here. There's a slight chance he checks KJ, which means his value range here is basically QT/Ax. Since I've seen him raising in weird spots earlier, I think I'm ahead here a lot but obviously there are a lot of bad turn cards so I shove, for 180k total. This is a significant portion of his stack, so I think I'll also fold out A7-A9 here often. He tank-folds and tells me later he had a flush draw. Sounds about right.

Making friends
I make FT with 240k after losing JJ<KK for a big main pot aipf, but winning a small side pot vs AT.

First hand of FT. I'm UTG and shove AJ at 20k/40k (!). Folds to BB who begrudgingly folds. I have some history with this kid. Two weeks ago I jammed over his SB complete. He folds and when he collects the card the next hand as dealer, he seems to lift the cards to check my cards on the bottom. I call him out and he gets very heated/aggressive. Eventually I apologize just to cool stuff down a bit. He seems to have hold on to a grudge.

Second hand of FT. UTG shoves for 100k, I call in BB with 66 which holds up vs KJo. Grudge-kid then aggressively tries to get everyone to agree on paying 6th place (were 7-handed) $50 from 1st and 2nd place. Some people agree, he decides that that covers everyone, until I tell him no. BTN thanks me for declining the offer since he doesn't agree either, but also doesn't want to say no. Grudge-kid is now clearly pissed off at me.

Third hand of FT. UTG+1 limps in 40k, leaving 40k behind. Folds to Grudge-kid on BTN who shoves for ~130k. I'm in SB and reship with 99, UTG+1 calls. UTG+1 shows AJ, Grudge-kid has 66.
Board runs out:
57KQT, UTG+1 triples up and I win side pot.
However, before I can collect the side pot, now clearly livid Grudge-kid throws his whole stack to UTG+1:
"You have won all my chips, they're all yours, take 'm!"
I give him a "Come on" and now he's all up in my face with "Oh "sorry", my mistake! I "thought" he covered me!" (airquotes are implicit but obvious)
Eventually we sort out the mess and I get my chips. Grudge-kid stays around for the whole FT and even approaches two players whispering and pointing to me. One guy laughs and then says: "But KoolCaliban is my friend!"

The rest of FT I continue pressuring the tight blinds. I shove 300k effective at 20k/40k on BTN with JT, get called by SB and BB tank-folds AJ, SB shows J6 (!?) . Board runs out:
Flop: 632
Turn: K
River: T

for a sweat.

I get HU with a chip disadvantage of 2-1 and agree to a 50-50 chop of $350 each with a blind flip for the last $25. I win the flip for TLB points and cash $375 + $25 ticket.

Online bankroll: $989
Live bankroll: $2079

These games...
Busted last two in almost exactly same way: UTG+2 resp. BTN opens to 2.5bb, SB calls, I shove 55 resp. 33 for 13bb total, open-raiser folds but in both instances SBs lists some hands they have equity against and call with Q9o...

Third game I stone bubbled in 4th place (3rd place was 4 BIs) when I shove KTs on BTN and get called by big stack in BB with T5o.

No wonder I have 200% ROI in these games, villains just don't like chips.

Last nights $10 1R1A game was uneventful, but I did finish ITM.
The main post were basically just all ins preflop:

Four way all in with AQ vs. KQ, 66, 99: Runout 6J8T9 . Down to 25k.

QJ > Q8, 84k. Villain wanted to go home and called off.

AJ > AT, 190k. Loose image paying off.

44 > Q2 , 200k.

TT> AQ, AK, 500k. Bit of a sweat, huge pot and I called the two all ins.

88 > A9, out in 4th for $100.

Funny how you can win four all ins in a row and still be slightly disgruntled with losing the fifth.

In other news I started running again. I used to be very outdoor sport focused: mountain climbing, adventure racing, MTB, long distance running etc. Then a few years back I cycled ~1000 km home after spending the summer alpine climbing and my knees gave up. For some reason I can't seem to get rid of that injury, and I have tried a lot of treatment/training/exercises. Really frustrating and disheartening. Nowadays I swim/climb/surf a little, but I really miss running and mountain biking. So a few weeks ago I started doing stretches/rolling daily and last Sunday went for my first run. Slow and short of course, but so far so good. Yesterday I got lost and ran for over half an hour, still things seem to be fine. So I'm tentatively optimistic.

Also I moved to a new place where I had to buy my own furniture. Got really lucky in a business sale: big desk, chair, cabinet and all sorts of office supplies for $150, including a 22" HD monitor that I couldn't leave behind. Which means I now have 2 monitors, a 24" and a 22" and a desk with enough room. Now I just need a proper monitor mount and I have a grind station!

Online bankroll: $989
Live bankroll: $2096

So last night spazzmonkey was at it again. He jammed 100-200 bbs into single raised pots a few times until someone called him off with 55 (!) and lost vs. his AKo. A little later I cbet 3.5k into 8k from CO with KQo on J95 and folded to his 45k instajam, after which he showed JJ... It was just a matter of time:

Blinds 1k/2k, I'm UTG with AK and open to 5.5k, with ~65k behind. UTG+1 ships 27k, spazzmonkey rejams for 85k, BTN calls of his last 7k, I call. UTG shows QJ, monkey shows KJ, BTN has 22.
Board runs out K9632 and I win the 160k sidepot.

F2T I find myself in a weird spot:
2k/4k, 6-handed. I open AT to 12k, with 150k behind. Folds to BB (91k) who calls.
Flop 953, pot 26k. BB checks, I check.
Turn T, pot 26k. BB fires 18k, leaving 61k behind. With such a wet board I think I'm ahead here quite often, but don't want to give him a free card. I jam, BB calls with 53... Dreadful preflop call obviously, but I'm more interested in turn spot.

Thoughts?

Sooooo much salt at the moment. The two small Friday games have a bounty aspect added to the tournaments. At the start 1 player is randomly picked as a bounty, unknowingly. If that player wins the game he wins the bounty pool which will build up over the weeks no one wins it. I finished 2nd in the first game, A7o < 99 for 10bb effective (all the chips in play). In the second game I got HU too, but now the bounty was still in!!

First hand, villain limps in from a 16bb stack, I have 8bb. Villain has literally not raised a single hand preflop, but just gotten hit in the face with the deck and/or people trying to bluff him off 1-pair hands. I have KT, there is 40k in the pot and I have 140 behind. Obvious jam since he'll limp in with 80% of hands here. He tanks for a long time and calls with KJ, and then asks me why I would jam there? Honestly...

He wins the hand, and it turns out I am the frigging bounty!!! The bounty pool was more than 1st place, but more so the bragging rights... ARRGGHH!!! SSSAAALLLTTTT!!!!!

Still, made $250.


Online bankroll: $989
Live bankroll: $2231

God, that feels good. Played a small session online and just shipped a $5 bowlcomp not releasing chiplead once from 30 players onwards. Felt really comfortable throughout with my reads/player-typing. Final hand HU vs. player where I had the note "loves to slowplay":

SB/BTN (hero) 300k
BB 200k

Blinds 3k/6k
I make it 12k with KT, villain raises to 24k (only second 3bet HU so far), I call
Flop 4K5, pot 52k. Villain checks, I check. He's either slowplaying or doesn't have anything so not a lot of value.
Turn 7, Villain bets 12k, I call.
River T , villain bets 38k, I ship, he snaps with AK

Online bankroll: $1091
Live bankroll: $2231

Didn't cash last night, but felt absolutely on point all night and was really enjoying the game. Combined with live reads every situation seemed so clear and obvious, poker is so much fun when everything clicks. Really psyched for the $110 $8k gtd on Saturday, let's gooo!!

Decided to stay home tonight with the big game coming up tomorrow, but couldn't help myself and showed up just in time to late reg the 2nd Friday game. With just one table of 10 players it's always very chatty and amicable. This time was no different, but with a few beginners play was very slow. One hand, with <1bb all in pre and two callers, check-check on flop, minbet-call on turn and minbet-fold on river took 6 minutes!

I wound up HU vs. the worst player in the field, who folded away 75% of his stack versus my shoves. Eventually he was committed and won the first two of these all ins, but failed to win the third. He was very excited about the whole thing and didn't dare to look at the runouts. After it was done he wanted our picture taken in all kind of poses, it was pretty funny. He was over the moon with winning 2nd place money, and I picked up $155, not too bad for a couple hours play.

Well. I busted the $110 game two hours ago, and I'm still a bit upset about it. Even though I just got unlucky, the combination of having to travel 1.5 hours back and forth, it being my biggest live game yet, and losing versus a ridiculous player means that I don't feel too bad about being frustrated right now. I'm sure my mental game needs some work, but the reality is nowadays I play poker for fun and sometimes the game is just a bitch.


Anyways, onto the hands. As always, I would love some feedback:

Nit or LAG?
20k starting stack, blinds 50/100, first level.

UTG+1 opens to 350, 3 players call, I'm in the BB with AK. I squeeze to 1850. UTG+1 quickly raises to 5350 and it folds to me. I'm a bit lost here at first, since I have zero reads on these guys. Given his appearance it can go either way, either he recognizes a squeeze and thinks I'm doing that light, or he's just your regular live-nit and has a monster. Especially live I don't just want to 5-bet ship 200 bb, since they have it more often than online for sure. I think about folding, but I'm getting 2.5-1 and have aces and kings blockers. I opt to call.

Flop Q52, pot 11.8k. I check, he ships 13k effective, I fold.


Well, here we go
75/150, second level. Four players limp in and I'm in CO with QJ. I make it 700, with 12.5k behind. BTN calls, so do three of the limpers.

Flop J85, pot 3725. Check to me, I bet 2k. BTN raises to 6k and it folds to me. BTN is the only player I sort of know. Never met him or played with him, but I know some of his results and he's clearly competent. My luck that the only competent player is to my direct left... I'm obviously getting it in here, but I was a bit reluctant. Am I really going to bust after 45 minutes of play, not even reaching the $50 add on after 1 hour of play?! We're playing 30 minutes blind levels and started off 200bb deep! But I have a monster and ship.

BTN asks for a count, realizes its only 6.5k more and calls with 63. I double up.


Fight for the fishes chips
The guy to my direct right is a clear mark. He gets involved in too many pots with marginal holdings and bad sizings. Both I and the guy to my left are aiming for his chips. I get a few:

Blinds 100/200, I have 28k. Three limps ahead of me, I call on BTN with Q9. 5-handed we see the flop:

Flop QJ8, pot 1100. Checks to The Mark, who bets 1k. I call, the rest folds.

Turn T, pot 3100. Villain bets 1k again. I think raising here will just look to him like the hand I have. I just call and see if he gets married to betting again on river like he's done a few times.

River 6, pot 5100. Villain bets 2k, I raise to 7k, he folds.


Blinds 200/400, I have 35k. UTG opens to 800, The Mark makes it 1600. I'm next to act with 66. I call, given that play is passive enough that I get to see a flop often. Don't really like it tbh, because UTGs action has opened up. UTG calls.

Flop 886, pot 5400 . UTG checks, The Mark checks, I check. Not really afraid of anything obviously, and my main chip-supplier doesn't seem interested.

Turn J, pot still 5400. UTG checks, The Mark bets 2k. I call given his tendency to follow through on the river. UTG folds.

River 3, pot 9400. Villain bets 6k, I silently raise to 15k to mimic my last river raise and hopefully get a spite call. He is not aware I have raised and flips open KJ. After he's been informed there is still action, he folds.


Put to the test
A new player, a young asian kid, has arrived three to my right with a huge stack. He's very chatty and is involved and wins the first three hands he's received. He seems active, but other than that I have no idea. We'll call him Spewster.

Blinds 400/800, I have 48k. Three limps, with Spewster on BTN. I have J3 in BB and check.

Flop JJK, pot 3600. I check, so does everyone else.

Turn Q, pot 3600. Not the best turn for me, but no reason to think I'm not ahead. I bet 2k. Folds to Spewster who raises to 7k. Folds to me. I wind up calling, but I don't know. At the time I felt like I don't mind letting the aggro kid drive the action and pot control at the same time.

River 8, pot 17.6k. I check, Spewster jams for 40k effective. I have no idea what he's supposed to be repping here that he doesn't raise pre or cbets on flop. This guy seems very active, is he really not gonna cbet a flush draw or raise KK/QQ/AJ/KJ/QJ/AT pre on BTN? I think not. So I chop with a J (other than J8) and lose to T9. I do realize my range is pretty capped and he is potentially a player that can recognize that and take advantage of. But I just don't know enough about this kid and 40k is plenty to work with. I sigh fold. Given his later play I think I was probably good, but given the situation I was in and the information I had at the time I don't mind my fold too much. But yeah, writing this up I realize this is a call.

Twenty minutes later Spewster deserves his name:
400/800, four players limp in with obviously Spewster among them. BTN shoves 11.5k, I fold. UTG+1, the second limper, calls. So does Spewster.

Board runs out 45536 and Spewster takes it down with 43...


Spewster continuous donkbetting every single flop and generally spewing of left and right. Undirected unbridled aggression is pretty easy to exploit, just find a good spot and hold:


HOLD!!
Blinds 700/1400, I have 36k. I'm UTG+1 and have AA. I open to 3500. CO, BTN, SB (Spewster) and BB all call.

Flop KJ4, pot 17.5k. Spewster in SB leads out for 9k. He has donkbet almost every flop he has seen. BB folds and I shove. Spewster quickly calls and shows K8. Pot 83k

Turn 8

River K

I wish everyone good luck and head out.


Online bankroll: $1091
Live bankroll: $2211

Since my last update I bricked Tuesday and Thursday in really boring sessions, but won the small Friday game (again) for $170. My last 4 tournaments at that venue consists of two wins and two 2nd places. More importantly the atmosphere in these games is fantastic and I really have a lot of fun, although a bit of that is probably chips chirping.

The monthly final yesterday I never managed to run up a big stack, but I did make FT. First, on the starting table this hand occurred:

To jam or not to jam?
100/200, eff. stack is 15k. UTG limps in, so does CO and BTN. I'm in SB and complete with K4. BB checks.

Flop KQ4, pot 1k. I check, BB bets 600, UTG calls, folds to me and I raise to 2600. BB calls, UTG folds. Seems fine to me on wettish board.

Turn 5, pot 6.2k. I think BB is on a draw here a lot, but can see him getting stubborn with a decent K on this board given my aggro image/young appearance (haven't played him before). I bet 4k, he tank-calls.

River 3, pot 14.2k. Here it gets interesting, since BB has ~8k behind. Online I would check to induce a bluff from missed draws, but live vs. these kind of players that almost never happens. I think I have the best hand here almost all the time, so what worse hand can I get value from? He just checked his BB pre, so worse hands that I can see him calling with are Q4, K9-KJ. However, it is 5 minutes till add-on (no rebuy option) which will tighten his calling range considerably (and rightly so). I think a smallish value bet is best here, but I wound up jamming thinking he would hero-call a young guy bet-bet-shoving on a board with a bunch of missed draws.
He sighs, thinks and mumbles for a while, and calls with KQ, leaving me very surprised how he did not raise that pre.


I add on a few minutes later and a few more hours of play later I find myself on FT with 195k at 15k/30k blinds. Average now 300k. 9 players, 6 get paid, $1100 up top.

Shoving time!
Hand 3, we're down to 8. MP shoves for 160k for a second time in a row (previous hand he showed 77), HJ quickly and smoothly reshoves for 300k. Folds to me in BB (165k + 30k blind) and I have AQ. In game I pretty much snapfold. There are a bunch of short stacks and I think my hand doesn't do great vs HJ reshoving range to begin with, adding ICM I think this is fine.

MP shows 66, HJ shows AK, board runs out 5QTAQ and we're down to 7. Nobody believes that I folded AQ.

Hand 4, it folds to me in SB with Q3 with 165k total. BB has ~130k and is a nitty russian lady. I think jamming ATC here is perfect vs. this player type on the stone bubble. However, BB calls with KT.

Board runs out 45536 and we're down to 6 and I'm up to 295k.

Hand 5 Folds to me on BTN and I ship A3, get called by KQ and lose, down to 180k.

Hand 6. Folds to me on BTN and I ship KK, blinds fold. Such a perfect spot after showing down the previous two hands, but sometimes they just don't have anything.

Hand 9 I'm UTG with 230k with blinds at 20k/40k and hold KK. I think for a bit, but before I do anything UTG+1 says "Call" indicating a limp. I look at TD who confirms the 40k limp stands and I shove. Everyone folds.

Hand 11 Folds to young aggro kid on BTN who ships 290k. I have AQ with 290k and call. BB folds and BTN shows JT.

Pot 620k, board runs out 86756 and I bust in 6th for a $100 mincash. Sigh. So close.

Online bankroll: $1031
Live bankroll: $2456

August wrap-up YTD review

The $50 monthly final yesterday closed a month with my largest live volume month to date. I played 18 tournaments this month for a little over $500 worth of buyins. To put this in perspective, my total live volume this year is 69 games /$1800 buyins.

Live stats, YTD:

Total tournaments: 69
ABI: $26.36
ITM: 30%
ROI: 135%
Profit: $2456



Online I started with $150 and I'm up to $1031. I don't have a Sharkscope subscription so no graph atm. I just bought a cheap second monitor, so I'm definitely feeling the itch to put in some sessions, but my shoulder is bothering me from having to sit behind a computer 40 hrs a week for my PhD, so I'm a bit hesitant to add more to that.

Goal progression
As you can read in my OP, my goal is to go to Vegas in 2016, to play a bunch of Daily deepstacks/small WSOP events. I concluded that the minimum amount for this trip is AUD $7.5k, including flights and accommodation. Maybe this is too optimistic, but I'll stick to that for now. Eight months in and another eight months to go with the current exchange rate I now have AUD $3900! Which means I'm on track to make this happen! Really pleased about that, and looking forward to reach my goal sooner rather than later so I have a little more to play with come WSOP.

Thanks for reading!

Last year I've been getting into whisky and today in my local store I saw a nice bottle with a significant discount. Did some research since it was still a bit pricey for me. Having passed the halfway point of my poker goal finally convinced me I deserved a nice addition to my "collection"
So now I have a bottle of Lagavulin 16 and it's awesome!

Grinding NPL tourneys is pretty tilting. If you're going to play pub poker you should make sure you play the $150k guarantee Quarterly which is the only NPL tournament with a semi decent structure and $50k up top.

Well, I would like to, but I don't have the roll to go play $600 tournaments (I suppose I could sell a %?). For now I have enough fun in the pub games that I play, combined with a better structured $50 or $100 game sprinkled in every now and again. I agree on NPL (and APL) though, they're vague on what money goes into the prizepool and how much of it is paid out in must-play tickets, combined with a lot of shady characters on the tables. The games that I play are with a different league and similar in buy in and structure, but with much funner crowd and more transparent payouts.

Mind that I'm not "grinding" this per se, I play ~2-3 nights a week since I have a regular 9-5 job. My main objective is have some poker fun on the side and hopefully build up a roll to bust on a Vegas trip. I might hop in some $300 tournaments at the Star if there's a series and I have a $5k roll.

The star has a $220 turbo on Monday nights also

Played an online session today. Ran pretty bad for a while and for a moment I was worried I was gonna drop $250, but managed to eek out a $109 ticket in a WCOOP sat as shortstack and just now I chopped a $2.5 table filler for ~$100. The chop was a bit unnecessary since villain wasn't very good, but he was a nice chatty fellow and I appreciate that sort of thing in an online world full of *******s. He offered me a bit more than chipchop and I couldn't be arsed to decline over $5.

Bricked all the live games this week by the way, not much interesting there.

Online bankroll: $1089
Live bankroll: $2376

Fellow Aussie grinder myself. All the best mate. Enjoying the thread so far for sure.

OK, no fun hands this time, I'm gonna punish myself by posting my bust-out hand of tonight. Made it home in a record time of 30 minutes...

Some context, I had a long and stressful week at work. I have to write a proposal to get time on a big telescope with an instrument and technique I'm not very familiar with. Getting time on telescopes is very competitive and you can have ideas all you want, if you're an observational astrophysicist but not successful at getting time on the necessary telescopes, you're screwed. It's not uncommon to have to overhaul your PhD because you're lacking data for your initial research plan. Anyhow, I was tired but did not realize how tired. Also, live poker is hella fun!

On to the hand: villain is a regular, who can play wild and take weird bluff lines. I disliked him at first because when he gets drunk (which happens often), he harasses female players. When sober, he's not too bad and can be fun to be around. His random playing style infuriates me from time to time.

Blinds 75/150, effective stack 21k. UTG limps in, villain limps in UTG+1, I raise to 1000 on the BTN with AK. Very large, but if players are limpcalling me OOP, and they do, I don't see the need to keep the pot small. UTG folds, villain calls.
Flop J96, pot 2375. Villain checks, I cbet 1600, villain raises to 4100. Once I cbet vs. this player (which I don't really like to be honest), I feel like I can't just fold to this sizing. Villain could be full of it just because he thinks I am. I call.
Turn K, pot 10575. Villain bets 7.5k, I call. Hey, I made a pair! (just fold...)
River 8, pot 25575. Villain shoves, putting me all in for ~13k. I call before I let myself think about more than "let's be a hero or go home early!", conveniently forgetting that this villain will never follow through with trash after getting called twice and that I'm gonna instantly regret busting early... Villain shows J9.

So I get home regretting that I'm missing out on a night of fun poker after such a **** week of work, and fire up some turbos. Even when I'm fresh, turbos tilt the hell out of me, so no, this is not a good idea.

I realize quite soon why I don't play turbos and finally have the good sense to stop regging after $50 worth. I bust everything quite quickly, but manage to stick around in a $7.5 sat to a $215 WCOOP ticket:

Easy game:


HOLLDDDD!!!!!



Please don't do this to me, not now (FT, 3 paid)



SHIP IT!!


That's the nice thing about poker, it's also possible to win when you really don't deserve it. Probably not a good lesson, but I'll take it.

Online bankroll: $1155
Live bankroll: $2336

Every 4 months there is a $3k freeroll for players who've finished in top 5 of monthly leaderboards. I qualified last month and the game was today. ~40 runners, so quite good value. I managed to make top 4 and we chopped $500 each with $350 to play for, after which I instabusted in 4th . Although by a small margin, this is my largest live cash to date!!

I'll post some fun hands later.

Congrats

Doing well mate, keeping my eye on this one! Subbed.

Thanks all! I'm glad my small stakes adventures are enjoyable to more people than just myself and my mom (god, I hope she doesn't read this...)


So usually I'm not a fan of the even splits that are common in these games, but in this case I had ~20% of chips 4-handed so it seemed like a profitable deal for me. Also, afterwards I noticed I was quite relieved and content with $500. I made FT as chipleader and was crushing up to that point, but CL meant 18bb at 5k/10k with blinds going up to 10k/20k in 20 minutes, so that didn't mean much. It did mean I felt the pressure of "finally" finishing top 3 in a bigger game, but I was completely card dead for the first half of FT, blinded off 1/3 of my stack and got super frustrated. I finally got it in with QQ vs. A7 and sweated that flip like crazy and held, which was enough to cruise to 4-handed and chop.

Some hands:

A beautiful river
75/150, I have 25k in CO with 56. Four limps before me, I limp behind, we see a flop 7-handed.

Flop K78, pot 1050. SB bets 300, BB calls, folds to me and I make it 1400. Obviously I don't mind building a pot in position and it disguises my hand more. BTN calls, so do SB and BB.

Turn A, pot 6650. SB leads out small again, now 1500. I don't really like raising here since a lot of the hands that will give me action are better flushes, I think villains ranges contain plenty draws. BB folds, I call, BTN calls with a theatrical sigh.

River 9 , pot 11150. SB bets 2500. I have 20k behind and am very confident one of these guys has the K, particularly BTN. I ship for 20k total. BTN snapcalls so he obviously has the K there a lot and I expect SB to fold. However, he starts tanking long enough that I even try to subtly give off a "prepare to leave" vibe, messing with my bag a bit . No idea if that worked, but SB calls as well! My hand is obviously good and I win a monster pot. BTN claims the K, so no idea what the hell SB was doing...

Hand in the cookie jar
1k/2k, I'm UTG with 99. I've been chipleader for a while and just showed a light 3bet (I really shouldn't but couldn't help needling a buddy of mine who wound up calling, checkfolding flop), in general I've been pretty active. Folds to SB, who calls since BB is away for a smoke. I'm sure he realizes my range is wider because of that.

Flop AK3, pot 12k. SB checks, I bet 6k. SB thinks a bit, and calls.

Turn 2, pot 24k. SB checks, and I think he has a lot of ragged aces/kings here that will fold to a strong turn bet. I bet 18k (a bit too much in hindsight given his stack of 50k). SB calls.

River Q, pot 60k. SB has 32k behind, I have ~75k. He checks, and my instinct just screams for a shove. His range is so capped here and he gives off such an unsure vibe. I still have all the monsters, and the river helps more of my hands than his. Also I would not be surprised he has been getting stubborn with a poor ace, which he will almost always fold to a jam for all his chips. I jam, and he takes 4-5 minutes. By this time I like my play no matter what happens, especially when he tells me he has two pair and doesn't know what to do. Eventually he sighs, says "You have so many better hands here than me", and folds.

I almost never show, but this time I just can't help it, I'm so pumped. I show, and he says to me: "Oh KoolCaliban, now I'm not gonna be able to sleep tonight! But I have to admit, very nice hand"

Later he tells me he had 32 () which is obviously the best two pair he can have from my point of view. Really curious if he would have folded A2/A3.

Online bankroll: $1155
Live bankroll: $2836

Just got back from the Thursday $25 freezeout a little richer. Made FT with an average stack but as always everyone is really short. I had the best remaining player on my right, and I would tangle with him repeatedly during the remainder. All hands versus him, early thirties solid player with some strange betting sizings every now and then:

10k/20k, I have 180k in BB with A9. Folds to BTN (300k) who limps in. Villain in SB makes it 60k (from 380k). I think he has a range here I'm certainly ahead of, I ship. He talks for a bit, asks if I have AQ or AK, and eventually calls with KQ.

Pot 380k. Flop TJ6


Very next hand.
Folds to villain in BTN, he open ships 200k, I'm in SB with 77, I shove over the top, BB folds. Villain shows K7

Pot 420k. Boards runs out 3AKAT.
Back to work.

4-handed, blinds 20k/40k. We just chopped $150 each with $325 still left, I'm the short stack with 240k in BB. Folds to villain in SB, he completes. I have 45 and check.

Pot 80k. Flop T85. SB check, I check. A little while ago he slowplayed a pair in the same spot. Don't really want to bet-call or bet-fold.

Turn 4, SB checks again. I have 200k behind, I ship, thinking I can get a call by tens or eights. Don't really like this, but bottom two is pretty vulnerable too. Should just bet 50k here or so. Anyway, he snaps with 67.

Pot 480k. River 5


Players start discussing to chop the remainder again, but now I refuse given I have 1/3 of chips in play and we're 4-handed. I'm quite open about when I deal (when I feel it's a good deal for me), but it does rub some people the wrong way.

A few hands later we're 3-handed, I'm down to 1/4 of chips in play. Player #2 brings up a deal, now I say OK, but now player #3 doesn't want to. Mainly because I refused earlier. Anyway, next hand player #3 ships, player #2 calls with AK, holds, and now has all the chips. Doesn't matter to him though, even split works for him.

We chop for $275 each.

Online bankroll: $1155
Live bankroll: $3041

Congrats. The 45 shove seems fine imo