Looks like you got some serious deal making skills

Haha, yeah. I'm actually known for declining chops. The common deal is to chop it even, despite stacksizes, so I always turn it down if my stack is above average. Since the blinds are so high at this stage it makes for quite a swingy game, which is the reason these players want to deal, but I don't mind weathering the storm because I'm sure I come out on top long-term.

The other day by the way was the first time I got offered more than even, my $350 vs. their $250 (3-handed). Icm value of my stack was ~$370 so I declined, but in hindsight it was a good enough deal to warrant a little loss but decrease some variance. I might try to negotiate more favorable deals in the future, but it's easy to come across as a douche to people who have no idea what icm is and I do want to stay on good terms with those who maintain my $20 hourly (in $25 pubgames )

GL mate, I'm also located in Syd mainly playing online though
Looks like great success so far, keep at that grind!

Thanks! Do you play mtt's? If so, do you keep late hours in order to play peaktime or just the small tournaments available during the day? Personally I don't mind playing these bowlcomps because I can keep my online sessions short, but it would be nice to play some big guarantees every now and then.

End of the month, so time for graphs. I don't plan enough online at the moment and also my Sharkscope ran out, so just year to date live (~40 games @ $25 abi):




Online bankroll: $445 (major brickage yesterday...)
Live bankroll: $1565

Played the $10 1R1A yesterday and finished 3/35 for $200. I guess usually I post hands that I'm unsure about or happy with, the following hand I think I butchered but on the other hand can't figure out the best play:

FT, 7 players, 5 get paid. Blinds 15k/30k, I'm chipleader with 380k and UTG. Average stack is ~150k, a bunch of <3bb stacks. I have KQ. I open to 60k since I don't mind seeing a flop with this hand, I'm fine calling off a shorty and don't mind folding to a shove of the other big stack. This other big stack (350k) calls on CO, folds around.
Flop TJ6, pot 165k. I have 320k behind, CO 290k. Pretty strong board for me, but considering villains calling range he must hit this board pretty hard. Pre I think he calls AJo-AQo, ATs-AQs, KQ, KJs-QJs, 77-JJ, given that I'm the only one that can bust him I wouldn't be surprised he would play these hands pretty passive. I really don't want to go flip vs the only stack that can cripple me here with so many super-shorties on the table. So what do I do here? Bet-call? Overjam? Check-evaluate?
I wind up check-calling 100k, I think he'll check behind 77-99 (maybe), AQ, so his bet feels like a made hand that I won't get him off of with a checkraise all in, which means probably a big icm mistake. Bet-calling gives the same problem.
Turn 8, pot 365k. I check, he goes all in for 190k, I fold and feel disgusted. In hindsight I still don't know what to do here vs. another big stack and so many supershort stacks.
Later he told me he had AJ and would have been fine getting it in on flop. If he 100% gets it in, with icm implications I don't know what my best course of action should have been.

Anyway, I build up my stack again and finished 3rd, so that's good.

From previously:
He had KT, which is definitely a hand I could see him have here, nice bet. I also was more ahead than I thought (in the situations where I'm actually ahead).

Mini heater: 3/32 last night for $150, third top 3 and fifth FT in a row. Also a freeroll for me, since I won a free entry as a bounty last week.
No interesting hands really, apart from UTG limp @ 5k/10k, I shove 80k on CO with ATo, folds to UTG who folds AJs face up after some thought...

Played the two new small Friday games. Finished 3rd in the first one where 5-handed the small stack must have won 7 all ins in a row, with blinds getting huge. Four handed and then this one occurred:

Blinds 15k/30k, I'm in BB and have 5k (one chip) behind after posting. UTG folds, BTN has 50k and shoves, SB is a bigger stack and reshoves. Three get paid, I have Q4. I think this is a fold, despite having 85% of my stack in there. I think SB is way ahead of BTN range here, and bubble is 3 buy-ins. I end up folding, BTN shows 66, and SB has 77 and holds. I bust next hand and cash $70.

Busted the second game in 8th after some drooler reshoved over my 25bb shove with KT and cracked my AA, all in pre.

Made about $350 between four games this week, pretty pleased. At about $2350 total I'm now at all all-time high since I started this thread (started with $150). I'm flying to Europe tomorrow for a work/holiday trip, pretty unlikely I'll be playing much in the next five weeks.

Online bankroll: $445
Live bankroll: $1921

Played a small session online on my laptop. Really wanted to play some stars.fr games while in Europe, but forgot to bring my RSA token Played a few games on FTP and Stars, shipped a small tourney after I binked the river BvB (3-handed) with Q6 vs 78 on 656J for a basically all the chips


Online bankroll: $613
Live bankroll: $1921

Hand in question:

Seat 2: BB (112,118)
Seat 6: BTN (48,550)
Seat 8: Hero (97,332)
BB antes 300
BTN antes 300
Hero antes 300
Hero posts the small blind of 1,200
BB posts the big blind of 2,400
The button is in seat #6
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Hero [Q 6]
BTN folds
Hero calls 1,200
BB checks
*** FLOP *** [6 5 6] (Total Pot: 5,700, 2 Players)
Hero bets 3,249
BB calls 3,249
*** TURN *** [6 5 6] [J] (Total Pot: 12,198, 2 Players)
Hero bets 6,952
BB raises to 106,169, and is all in
Hero calls 84,431, and is all in
BB shows [8 7]
Hero shows [Q 6]
Uncalled bet of 14,786 returned to BB
*** RIVER *** [6 5 6 J] [5] (Total Pot: 194,964, 2 Players, 1 All-In)
BB shows a flush, Jack high
Hero shows a full house, Sixes full of Fives
Hero wins the pot (194,964) with a full house, Sixes full of Fives

I figured I was either up against a 6, most of which I beat (and I expect him to raise A6 pre a lot), a made flush that I have full house and flush draws against (again, I expect him to raise Axs pre when I limp in so my Q-high flush draw is often live) or some random spazz. Then the question is given the massive overbet whether calling off is an icm error with a smaller stack still in play. Don't know really, couldn't find an easy web-based calculator to run the numbers in. Any takers?

edit: Just did a quick icm check and I need 54% equity here.

Played a small session online today, but with my current aggro BRM I still managed to risk a quarter of my online roll. Initially got showered hard, and owned hard:


Villain has very solid results, but this seems so thin and unnecessary. Maybe I'm just awful, I don't know. Either way, nice hand.

Anyway, the sweet thing about playing MTTs that it only takes one, and I managed to find a 2nd place in a $2+R for $475! Which means that my online roll is getting to a level where the games I'm playing are not a BRM disaster

Online bankroll: $935
Live bankroll: $1921

Playing an online session and had this huge sunrunning fish at my table, he just hit everything all the time. My bust out hand was particularly outrageous/hilarious:


Get it in on the flop with 2% equity? No problem

Gratz on the 2r score

Just out of interest, what are you trying to rep with 67s hand? I agree his call is thin but if he puts you on a draw/air on the flop/turn his river call makes more sense since you dont have any Ax in your range (with 16bb you would prob shove any Ax pre).
Also, why didnt you shove pre? My experience is that people fold alot (readless) and even if you get called you have decent equity.

I like your thread btw, gl!!

Thanks! About the hand, I understand I'm repping thin here and the call was clearly well thought out. However I don't think I would necessary fold suited small cards here for just a complete (although I probably should), so I could still have 53s, 54s, 64s, maybe some sets that would take this line. But yeah, my line might not rep many value hands, but what am I ever triple barreling here, apart from my exact hand, that he beats with K-high?
And yes, I suppose shoving here will be profitable, but I think I can gain more postflop vs. a player type that limps in in late position. Also, it's much more fun


Today I bubbled some FTs and got in a weird spot on an FTP final table where I lost a big pot to finish 5th to end the day on a small loss. Tomorrow I get to play live again, as I'm back in Sydney after 5 weeks traveling! I'm also looking at the Micromillions schedule to see if there's a day with enough Australia daytime games to warrant a day off. Friday the 24th seems by far the best option, but I just got word I'll probably spending that day observing with this little toy:



I suppose there are worse reasons for missing some MM events.

Online bankroll: $880
Live bankroll: $1921

Played quite a bit this week, not much return though. Bricked the Tuesday and Thursday games, but did wind up winning the second Friday game for $165 in cash and tickets to finish in the black for the week. Not any particular hands of interest, especially the win was just really standard hands.

I'm looking forward to next week. I plan on playing a solid online session on Friday including a bunch of MM events. Saturday is the $50 monthly final and I hope on getting my hands on a ticket for a $100 WSOP satellite ($4k package for 1st) on Sunday.

Online bankroll: $780
Live bankroll: $1947

These players in the pub games make such ridiculous fundamental errors, even the guys that play every week have such little grasp on basic things. Sometimes I think it's highly entertaining, other times it just tilts the hell out of me. Yesterday I was card dead for the first couple hours when this hand took place:

Blinds 100/200, UTG opens to 1200 (he was pretty aggro, but non consistent on sizing). UTG+1 calls, so does MP, BTN and SB. I'm in BB and I fold.
Flop AT6, pot 6.2k. SB donkleads 2.9k, UTG makes it 6.2k, UTG+1 calls off his remaining 5.7k, MP calls leaving 2k behind. Back to SB who has to call 3.3k in a pot of 27k, he has ~13k behind and UTG covers. He agonizes for ages, shows K8 to me for the second nut flush draw and folds! In a rebuy where the other players will have ranges much wider than just the A flushdraw, the only hand that crushes you.
Sure enough, UTG shows AT, UTG+1 shows 88 (what!!?) and MP has AJ and the board runs out with a 4. SB then tells me he donk led out with his flush draw to force aces out (how?!) it was a bad fold (you think?) but if the clubs hadn't come in it would have been a great fold (SERIOUSLY!?).

A while later the SB from the previous hand (mind you this is a reg in this place, as in he plays a lot) was the villain in the following hand:
Blinds 500/1k, I have 35k behind. UTG opens to 3.6k, I'm next to act with AK, I make it 8.6k. Folds around to UTG who calls.
Flop AT4, pot 18.7k. UTG checks, I bet 8k. He thinks for a bit and makes it 16k, I call. I want to keep his worse aces in and since I'm holding the A I don't suspect he has a lot of flush draws here. I'm obviously getting it in on any turn.
Turn A, pot 50k. He bets enough to put me all in, I call. He shows JJ for the weirdest line ever. Min check raise on a A-high flop OOP in a 3bet pot with stacks so shallow? Trying to get me off KK? Wut?

Eventually I lose a 130k flip with 77x vs. KJxx on a 6xT3QAx runout, and am left with 6bb. I win the next four hands with all ins and a overbet jam with K4 on Q36 from the BB, get called by T7 and hold to get back to 75k but lose another flip for a big stack to FT bubble this one. Really pleased with my late play, but I'm still very susceptible to boredom when card dead and get involved in poor spots.

Hahaha, sometimes you run well when you run bad. I just got home after folding junk preflop and completely missing boards vs. donkbets from fit or fold players for two hours. Was really disciplined but couldn't get anything going. Eventually got it all in with KQ on K93 vs a spazz's QT

On the upside, I was really tired and honestly didn't want to get home late because I want to be fresh tomorrow. However it was the last chance to possibly get a discount ticket for the WSOP satellite Sunday. I was lucky and someone was willing to sell an invite-only (you can't buy in on the day) ticket worth $100 for only $50! And I got home early without punting! Major win.

I'm gonna turn in early tonight and tomorrow will be my first dedicated day of online grinding this year! Playing 3/4 MM events and will have up to 1/3rd of my bankroll on the tables across 30-40 tourneys. BRM FTW!!! LET'S ****ING GGGOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

Got bit in the ass a bit by multi-entry, my stacks got merged on FT. Oh well. It's 5-handed atm and I have twice as much as the other players put together.

SHIIIPPPP ITTT!!! $300+ means I'm freerolling for the rest of the day now.

Gratzz, GLGL

Thanks!

Obviously binking a tournament for a freeroll so early in the day gave me high hopes to significantly pad the bankroll, but alas. I ran pretty dreadful in the bigger fieldsize/buyin tourneys to really make waves, but I did FT four more bowlcomps for a solid profit of >$200. More importantly, I really had a lot of fun today. Not a lot of chances these days to grind for 13 hours straight for me, so it sucks if I'd just brick everything. I feel really good about my game, going for thin spots and not punting too hard. Granted, I had some brainfarts, but kept it together really well in general. Played ~40 games, cashed 7 with 6 FTs (1st, 2nd, 6th, 7th, 8th and 2x 9th).

Tomorrow I'm playing the $50 monthly final and the day after that the $100 WSOP satellite for a $4.4k 2016 package. Really psyched, and really, just binking one of the two is enough for me!

Online bankroll: $989
Live bankroll: $1892

Sigh, just FT bubbled the monthly final for a pot of 30% of chips in play. I chipped up from 50k to 300k and shipped AQo from the SB 5-handed over a minraise open from the button at 15k/30k. Nits-R-Us snapped with QQ. Better luck tomorrow hopefully.

Busted the $100 WSOP satellite in a spot that I wouldn't worry too much about online, but versus these weaktight live nits I'm not sure:

Blinds 400/800, ante 100, 7-handed, average stack 30k.
Three players limp in, I have Q4, I call. On the button versus these players I play really wide here, maybe a bit too loose but anyway. SB completes and BB checks.
Pot 5500, flop 446. Checks to me, I check. Betting here is fine here obviously, but these players give bets way too much credit, which is great if you're bluffing but I actually have it this time. Then again, I've been very active so I suppose betting is better here.
Pot 5500, Turn T. BB bets 2200, UTG calls, I raise to 7800. Having underrepped my hand on flop and two flushdraws on board I really need to get more chips in. BB ships and has me covered, I have 35k behind.
Here I am really unsure. He doesn't have TT and 66 is also unlikely given preflop action. A 4 makes sense, but there is just one 4 out there, out of which 14 combos that beat me and 28 that I beat. A combo draw such as 57 is possible, or some random spazz such as T6. The main point is what these players do with such hands, I think they oftentimes would just call. Even low 4s might just call. These weaktight players just looovvve calling. I've never played with villain before but so far he seems to fit the type. I have to be carefull to not think about how I'd play it. Anyway, I call and he shows A4 and holds.

What do you guys think, feedback is much appreciated!

Played the $25 freezeout yesterday and just butchered it. Had a long day and was really tired, which combined with a poker diarrhea spouting spazz donkey to my left led to me going on monkey tilt. I barreled A5 on a KQ4TT board and got called down with A4 for some reason by this clown, which was the trigger. The next hand I get dealt AK and refuse to fold versus him on A9895, because he annoys me and "some draws have missed", giving me a thin excuse to be a donkey myself. He shows A9 and I lose most of my stack only 20 minutes in.

This is the same player who played this hand last Saturday in the $50 monthly final, second level:

50/100, average stack 25k. 7 players in a limped pot see a flop 745. Spazz donkey is in BB and open shoves 25k into a 700 chip pot, folds to BTN who calls with 63. BB has 45 and loses...

Note to self: either not play when tired or just faze out and read some 2p2 at the table until feeling better.

Played three games since the last update. After the tilt session on Thursday I realized I prefer being in the game and actually playing way more than spite-calling annoying players, so got that out of my system (for the time being). Friday was solid but uneventful. I trusted my reads and stay disciplined, for example:

One overcard is enough

400/800. UTG limps in, I'm next to act with JJ and make it 3500 with ~25k behind. Lojack, SB, BB and UTG all call.
Flop 9TK, pot 17.5k. Checks to me, I check. Last to act (lojack) is an older lady (passive nitty pre, fit or fold) who she seems very interested and is short (14k). If she were to check (which for her type means she has no hand) I feel like I can play turn well in position on the rest and some pot control here seems appropriate. However, she jams immediately. My gut tells me this is almost never a bluff and I have not nearly enough equity vs. her kings (AK/KQ/KJ). I fold quite comfortably and she shows KQ.

It's just too bad that night that my correct reads mainly led to losing the minimum, instead of winning the maximum, but oh well.

On Sunday I hit a dream table with 5 OMC's, with two of them trembling mumbling VOMC's (very old man coffee), very cute There was one aggro young kid who I busted:

Trust your plan

500/1k, 30k effective. I'm UTG (7-handed) and open K4 to 2500. Don't really like this to be honest, but I'm here to have fun as well (not a good excuse I know) and save one the whole table is super passive anyways. Obviously the younger aggro player calls (who I've seen making really bad plays btw) as well as SB and BB.
Flop K95, pot 10k. Top pair, backdoor draw, I bet 4.5k. Aggro calls, rest folds.
Turn 2, pot 19k. I check, he checks. Really don't think he's gonna check behind a K here given his aggressiveness and stack size (22k). Also not a lot of draws out there, so a 9 is most likely.
River 3, pot 19k. Dry runout and I think I'm best here most of the time. A small value bet seems fine, but given his playing style a check call seems more profitable. I check, he overjams 22k into 19k. I take a while but all my reasoning seems to hold up, so I call. He mucks.

An orbit later the highlight of may day took place:

Gotta respect the OMC donk-triple-barrel

500/1k, effective stacks 45k. UTG limps in, I'm on the BTN and I raise J7 to 3.5k. SB calls, BB and UTG folds.
Flop AJJ , pot 9k. SB (typical OMC) leads out for 3k . No sense in raising here, I call.
Turn 2, pot 15k. SB again bets, now 7k. I'm confused as hell what he has here, I suppose a biggish Ace would make sense that tries to get value from smaller aces? Again, no sense in raising, I call. He mumbles something about an ace.
River T, pot 29k. OMC now bets 23k, leaving 12k behind. This immediately sets of alarm bells. If he has AK/AQ/AT he's never betting all streets with the jacks out there. And this really looks like value, and what value hands do I beat that he calls pre in SB? On the other hand there is only one more J out there, and is he really leading flop with a J?! I start talking. I ask him if he's showing if I fold, he just stares straight ahead. Then I tell him it's a tough spot for me holding a jack. Suddenly he mumbles again something about me having an ace. So he's capable of ignoring me, but then when I tell him I have a strong hand he's suddenly giving out information? I fold. He shows 22.

Didn't cash in this one, and last night I busted because villain brainfarts:

1k/2k, I have 27k, average stack 60k. 7-handed, UTG limps in, CO makes it 6k, BTN calls, I'm in SB and jam with JJ. Folds to BTN (50k) who thinks for 2 minutes and calls with K8. Often I have an idea why fish do what they do, but this just confuses me. What was he thinking about for two minutes, how does he ever convince himself to call other than: "Time to gamble!", but why does that take so long? Anyway, board runs out:
Flop: 965
Turn: 5
River: 7

Online bankroll: $989
Live bankroll: $1728

Aaaaaand villain from last week just jammed 20k with AJo at 50/100 over my 700 open because he was on 'tilt' after losing two small insignificant pots. Easy call with AKo