Hey 2+2.

Hero=
-24 year old male
-small winner live (8-12k profit) mainly 1-2
-physically fit, 6"2, vegetarian, currently a fitness coach at a local gym for $11/hr
-Umass Amherst business management grad (need 3 credits online actually)
-extremely addictive personality (pro and con)
-spent most of last 3 years playing sparingly, usually on stakes, anywhere from 1-2 to 5-5-10

Right now my current situation is I live in a sober house, 5 months of sobriety under my belt. Working a get well job as a fitness coach in Cape Cod. Besides financially speaking, my life has made a massive turn around.

My fitness job right now covers my expenses in life, (barely), besides my college loans (yikes).

I havent been able to play poker even semi-comfortably on my own dime in a long time. I received my tax return the other week. Its 1200 dollars and I have decided that money is going to poker. Its not enough for a "bankroll", but its enough for a "shot" and I really want a new adventure for myself.

My goal is to use this thread to express my journey, give/get some life/poker advice, and basically hold myself accountable by putting everything down on paper.

Thanks in advance for reading!

Played my first session last sunday at Rockingham Park.

2.5 hours
+46
1246 roll

Played overly passive, had some interesting spots that I will post about later this week.

I left out in OP that I have a cinderella license right now so until May 23 I expect to only play poker 2 times. This is fine by me as it gives me more time for Tony Robbins and Bart Hanson before I get it really going.

I don't like where this is heading if u look at your 1200 as "not enough for a bankroll"

anyway, congrats on the sobriety. I used to smoke weed frequently and can say I'm not addicted and that feels good. still will do it sometimes but I feel much better sober, just weed but it's a liability.

gl with the poker, be confident in that roll, implement good BRM and u can grow it.

Second session today at Twin River 1/2.

2 hours
+94
1340 roll

Started off down a quick 215, semi-bluffing flop and turn with the lead. River I fired my 3rd barrel and it got RAI... Yikes... 87d, AdQc4d, 6s, (terrible river 6) probably one of the few rivers I shouldnt fire.

Will post that hand and others later on when not working.

Didnt play well by any means to get back +. Got some dream turn and rivers in goofy spots and made decent value bets.

As far as life and mindset goes before session.....

-Meditated this morning using the app Headspace. Its great, check it out.
-At the end of my shower, blasted the cold water for 20 seconds. Its something Ive learned about recently, big thing Tony Robbins preaches.
-Have used my fitnesspal app to track all my nutrition for the last 3 days. Currently goals are 3600 cals a day, 181g protein, 350-450g carbs, under 100 g fat.

Thanks my friend on both the advice and the congrats.

Hands from Rockingham last weekend that I wasnt happy with my lines.....

Hero: KsQh, middle position (200) Opens to 12. 3 callers. Flop KhJs2h. Check, check, bet 35. Villain (180, bad passive) calls, Villain (95, new to poker?? vibe) calls, other villain folds. Turn is a 6h. Gives me 2nd nut flush draw. Check, I check, check. River is the 8h. Pot (150ish). Check from short stack, I check (mistake, should have bet/folded), last villain tank checks and all he says was that he had a heart and wanted to bet it :/.

Hero: 4h5h, on the button (250). 3 limps and older reg makes it 4 total, everyone calls, I flat. We see flop 7 ways. Flop 9c5c4d. One of limp/callers leads for 13, original raiser calls, fold, call, I make it 40 total. Folds around to original raiser (175ish), he tank calls. Everyone else folds we are heads up. (130ish). Turn is a 6s. He checks. I check back. (Not sure why I checked here, bad upon review). River is an 8. We go check check. He has QQ and I win.

Hands from Twin River....

Hero: 8d7d, utg+1 (300) Hero opens to 12. 3 callers. Flop AdQc4d. Check, I bet 35, most competent player at the table (280) calls, fold, fold. Turn is 6s. (120ish) I lead out for 55. He flats. River (230) 6c. I lead out for (100) he takes a few seconds and comes over the top all in.

Thoughts: The river was a card I should never be betting, its too convenient now for him to call with any Ax given the Q on the paired 6s board. This was definitely a mistake. The turn card was a great one to keep going, I think I fold a lot of his Ace Ragish hands. Might have wanted to size a little bigger to price out bigger FDs.

After this hand I was not pleased with myself at all, added on 100. So sitting with a 210 stack with only 850 of my bankroll "safe". And without a great image to boot after bet/folding that river. Was biggest pot early at the table.

Hero: 5s5d MP, limp, limp, (185) Hero open to 10. Guy from big barrell bluff calls, and two other older limp callers come along. Flop 10d3h2c. Check, check, I bet 20, fold, call (150ish) older passive villain, fold. Turn 5h. (75ish) He checks, I bet 35. He calls. River is a 2h. (150ish). He open shoves for like 90ish and I call and he flips over 10h9h and my full house takes it.

Thoughts: Thank you for that turn/river combo Twin River. Thank You. Shouldnt have opened with that preflop given my image, really need to hit a set for hand to have value, not gonna get a ton of folds. Flop Cbet, seemed okay, was hoping to get position back in hand heads up. Lot of good turn cards for me to BET.

Hero: KsJc. (250) Older villain opens for 6. I flat on the button, BB flats. Flop A 6 4. Checks through. Turn is a Q. Checks through. River is a black ten, no flush board. BB bets 10 into 15, original raiser makes it 25, I make it 80, fold, and original raiser who is NOW frustrated throws in the 55 and flips over a set of aces.

Thoughts: Again Twin River, thank you for that turn/river combo.

Hero: AdJs. (350) Hero opens to 12. 3 callers. Flop Ac Ks 10d. (36) We check through. Turn is an As. Check, check, I bet 25, fold, fold, call. River is an 8d. Check I bet 45, folds.

Thoughts: This hand looks good to me.

Hero: Qd9d (380) Hero uTG limps. 7 limpers. Flop 9s7c3s. Checks, checks, I bet 12, older passive calls (150), fold,fold, unknown of sorts/younger (200) calls. Turn is an As. We check through. River is Ad. Unknown bets 45 into (50ish), his line didnt really make much sense, seems like if he had flopped nut flush draw he would have bet the turn when he hit top pair. So I called. Fold behind. And villain mucked and won.

Thoughts: Pretty poor limp. Great turn/river. Pretty easy call IMO given board.

Third session yesterday at Twin River. Lost 196 in 6 hours.

Roll is now 1144. (-56)
Over 10.5 hours.

Went 0pher on KK,QQ,JJ,1010x3. Pretty much the net of the session right there. Only hand I think I misplayed out of the above was KK, river was the worst card in the deck but made a turn mistake. Will post later. QQ and JJ were A109 and AK8 flops. Got in trouble with 1010 twice, each time my tens were an overpair and ran into flopped two pair. Lost the minimum each time.

Biggest pot I won was 135, which was like a somewhat average pot. Table was pretty deep.

To use a golf analogy, today felt like a hole that could define my round, but only for the worse.

If I had to assign a realistic net range to my day today looking back (not taking into account my bankroll because I would stoploss at 400) it would have been like (-800 to +150)

I think the above concept is something that is lost on some people. If you are on a massive heater and could have won (+700 to+2300) and you won 850, compared to (-1200 to -400) and losing -450. Its pretty obvious what session you should be more PROUD of. IMO low stakes is all about valuing bet while avoiding making massive mistakes against inferior play.

Read about half of Bart Hansons crushlivepoker articles. I really enjoy his work, I think he is a great player with an extraordinary ability to communicate concepts. Hopefully finish all of them by my next session, which will probably be Thursday/Friday morning at Twin.

If anyone ever wants to meet there shoot me a message, youll probably have played with me before. Pretty loud goofball at the table, but my play is totally different from personality.

As far as real life goes....... Its awesome. Helping people reach their goals in fitness is amazing. Especially after having 2-3 months of treatments and rehabs where I was relying on so many people to help me learn how to live and thrive again.

Enjoy your life!

did this journey end?

Bet he sat at one of those 5/5/10 tables and lost it all in 1 BI

Or degen'd it on drugs

AA and/or NA would have been +EV.

Got away from posting as life has been busy with work, gym, moving, poker and yes AA meetings....

I am 7 months sobers this Sunday. Moved out of my sober house after 133 days, 63 days in treatment, and 9 in detox. Feeling pretty blessed. Some days are better than others; it can be hard to reflect on the "things" I lost (girlfriend, job, legal issues,money). However being myself again and enjoying life definitely trumps, my progress has been amazing.

Moving out of my sober house was exciting. Ive had 3 roommates for months and been paying 800 a month driving 1 hour to work. Now I live in a in-law apartment by myself in a basement, paying 525 a month and commuting 15 mins to work. I will miss a lot of the people and camaraderie, but it was time to keep moving forward.

Weekly habits have been strong. Meditating using headspace 5x a week. AA meetings 3-4x a week. Work @ gym 35 hours. Working out 5x a week. Reading 5x a week (Untethered soul= must read) Playing basketball 1x a week. AND FINALLY Poker 2x a week.

Poker has been great lately. I am on a super upswing. Made 840 this weekend at Twin River 1.2. If any one was there I was wearing a backwards gray hat, blue shirt, khakis, and had my chips stacked obnoxiously high.

Bankroll is at 2,475. +1275 over 38 hours. The lowest my bankroll got was -340 after a 560 day thumping at Mohegan Sun last month.

I have been running super well. Been catching sets an above average % of the time. Id have to guess I am like 10/45ish over the last two weeks. AND been getting paid off. Biggest pot, and what really helped to start this upswing was 22 OTB vs AA, 350 effective stacks on a K62 board.

I have been playing all ABC poker, and trying to "respect the money" when I am playing 1.2. I have been folding preflop around 90% of the time UTG, UTG+1 and +2. Playing super positionally aware.

On occasion have been buying in at 2.5 at Twin River for 400 when the 1.2 games arent good. I have had success there, up around 375 over 10ish hours.

Excited to be settled in to my new place. My new life. And the idea struck me the other day that playing poker for supplemental income, has been the most fun I have had playing poker in 5 or 6 years. The pressure of turning every session into a "Matt Damon esque Rounders end of the movie getaway to Las Vegas" was this "nasty" pipedream that was draining a lot of the fun and PROFITABILITY out of poker for me.

trying to live the dream... first figuring out what the dream is... but life is pretty good today. dead man on a holiday... thanks for reading guys....hands to come.....enjoy your life/day

Some hands...

I was playing a home game that I have frequented for the last 5 years. Its an extremely deep 1-2 game. Lots of mississippi straddling. Before this session I had gone up 205 at Rockingham park 1-2. I bought into the game for 300 10 mins before this hand.

8 handed:

Mississippi Straddle OTB to 20. (450 eff) Older woman, pretty tight player. Will straddle if thats how game is going.

Hero UTG+1 (300) Black QQ. Opens for 60.

V1 Calls 60.(CO) (500) Is a regular at this game. Probably the best player, very LAG, consistent winner. Loves to trap. Had just won a pot hand before, still stacking chips.

V2 Calls 40. (OTB) Description above, straddlor.

Flop 3 ways (Jc10c5d) $183.

V1 checks, V2, checks, Hero bets $80. V1 min raises to $160. V2 folds.

80 more to me, have 200 behind...... Kind of a gross spot b/c I have the Q of clubs and am blocking a lot of combo draws... The fact that he min raised confused me.... He is the type of player who could min-raise with AJ here for value. He flats AA and KK a lot preflop, so I need to have some of those combinations in there... As well as JJ-1010 and 55 are now beating me.

This game does have the option of running the board out...and that played into my hesitancy to fold, given that I could probably shove and run 3x. Takes some of the variance out if he did have J10 or a combo draw.

Hand from Twin River 1/2. July 4th.

Hero (350) OTB. AJ off

V1 (300) MP. Drinking. Regular. Action player. Plays too many hands. Does read hands above average 1.2 player.

Limps to Hero who raises to 12.

V1 calls as well as an guy who was playing poker for first time in casino, call him V2..

Flop (AdQs7c). $38

both check Hero bets $35.

V1 calls, V2 novice folds.

Turn is (5h) rainbow. $105

V1 checks. Hero bets $45. V1 calls.

River is (8s). V1 leads for $100....... ($200)

I tank. The most important part of this hand was me trying to decide what level he would be thinking at. I decided that he might think my buttn range was pretty wide. If he could put me on Ace-Rag, (my smaller bet on the turn) looks like ace rag or Qx for value.... Than it made sense to me that he would try to take this line to get me off an ace if he went unimporved. I also couldnt put him on a ton of non-made hands that got there on the river? Obviously A8 and maybe 87? I had seen him play most of his hands fast.....

Funny/run good one....

AA at Rockingham park SB ($280) Image is super tight. Playing with a friend I grew up with. Mostly there to have fun, talking with each other and catching up, as much as I am concentrating on the table.

V1 MP(300ish) Most competent player, open to 18, which was super large for table.

V2 CO (180) Drinking. Seems to be wealthy, mid 50s. Loose passive. Flats.

Hero makes it 68 with Aces.

V1 MP. TANK FOLDS. Like 2 minutes.

V2 goes to fold. Then says F it. Im here to gamble. And throws in 2 more greens.

Flop (4d6dKc) $155.

Hero checks. Pretty perfect board. Dont want to bet and blast him off his hands. Give a chance to bluff.

V2 practically shoves all-in the second I check.

I snap call and he flips over 75dd for an open ended straight flush draw. Turn comes deuce of hearts, river is the 5 of hearts.

Hero is stoked and cant believe he faded that draw with runner runner low red cards.

Re-reading my posts, I guess the one good thing about being an alcoholic is I ALWAYS notice every persons alcohol intake.

Correction: I lead flop.

Life updates:

Heading to North Shore for weekend. Busy week at work so looking forward to having Sun/Mon off. Ideal poker weekend would be a session at Hampton Falls in NH on sat/sun and Twin River Mon on way back to Cape.

Excited to see friends and family. It reaffirms why I chose to turn my life back around and gives me motivation.

Fitness wise: Im at about 8% bodyfat right now. Nutrition wise I have been in the range of ~2600 calories, ~250g Protein ~375g Carbs ~80g Fat. Gym 5x a week has been beneficial. Whenever I dont want to work out (which is rare) I think about a lot of the elderly people I coach, if they can bust their ass on lat pulldowns and chest presses in their mid 70s..... Great motivation

Living wise: Its been really great to be living without piss tests at 5:45 2x a week. Having my own room and being able to sleep now has been amazing. My social life is pretty non-existent on the Cape. That has taken some getting used to. Growing up and in college I always had a ton of friends and didnt have enough time in the day for everything I wanted to do. So this is a transition, and one of the reasons I go back "home" every weekend.

Learning wise: Crushing Tony Robbins audio book of "Awaken the Giant Within" in the car. Ive read the book before a few times, but I saw it for 18 bucks at Barnes and it has been a great find to cruise along all day to his voice/wisdom. Also reading the 4 hour workweek... really cool book about the idea of the "New Rich".

Poker wise: Excited to crush some sessions. I am excited to PLAY. Upswings are nice, but when you stop getting the picture perfect cards whenever you need it.... You need to realize you arent invincible at the poker table, and that every chip that goes into the pot should be +EV INVESTMENT.

Poker is like fitness. Its long term oriented. Focusing on the short term (highs and lows) gets you no where besides overly empowered or overly dis-empowered.

ALSO I AM STRUGGLING TO PUT PICS UP. I PUT THE GOOGLE PHOTO LINK INTO THE IMAGE ICON WHEN POSTING AND IT JUST SHOWS A GENERIC PHOTO ICON AND NO PICTURE

not sure how to do pics either

good updates man, sounds like u are doing very well day to day

Hey OP - great thread!

For pics, try using photobucket, that worked for me...I had the same issue with google.

Good luck with poker, and more importantly staying sober. If you have a long run of bad variance or make some bad decisions don't let it turn you back to substance abuse.

Great results this weekend financially speaking. Made 125 over 6 hours Saturday at Hampton Falls and then 245 tonight at same room. Both 1.2. Ill re-check exact math tmrw but at 50 hour point since making thread....

Very pleased. +1645, 50 hours, ~40 hours of that at 1.2, rest 2.5

The run good on the weekend quickly ended as after last post hero sat down at Moms TV in his childhood home, switched the channel to HBO..... And we no longer have HBO

Guess Danny McBrides new show will have to wait. Chalk that up to a cooler.

Interesting hand here, had a good phone conversation about it with a close friend of mine who plays mostly 2-5. We had quite different opinions on it...

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/17...-ways-1620033/

I guess this would be a good opportunity to talk about my style of play.

EPs: Opening range is super tight AQ+, 99+. Will limp/evaluate all PPs. Will set mine in these positions if --stacks-- at least 15x initial raise. Suited connectors are the hand that IMO loses the most value when you are OOP. Getting that extra information of being in position is so important for semi-bluffing and determining your equity. Will fold or limp/fold most SC's, with an OCCASIONAL open or limp/call. Will limp/reraise a portion of the time if I think the table is aggressive enough that I can get in ~ stacks with a 3 bet and get called off.

MPs: Opening range is still on tighter side. A10s+, 77+, QJs+, AJ+, KQ. Okay with playing suited connectors, sometimes opening, sometimes limp/calling. Usually --we need-- to be 25x deeper than raise for me to find value here. Speculative hands become situational dependent here. My 3 betting range is AA-KK, some Qs, and rarely Js or AKs.

Late position: Opening range gets pretty wide here, too situational dependent to assign. I think position is EXTREMELY overlooked in low stakes poker. Even if you are not using it aggressively you will EXPLOIT most of the player pool. That can mean losing the minimum just as much as it can mean winning the max or getting folds from better holdings. MY 3 betting range is wider than average 1/2 player here (not saying much). Tough to assign a range on my LP 3 betting range but it would involve SCs a portion of the time. Would rather 3 bet SCs here than hands like AJ or KQs for RIO reasons.

There are so many good spots in 1.2 and I think that my preflop range puts me in a spot where I give myself the best chance to play in position +EV, and takes me out of OOP spots with stronger holdings where I think I am very -EV.

Time to clean the bathroom at the gym

It is the weekend again! Heading back to the North Shore, will hopefully get 2 sessions in again!

Poker: Been reviewing a lot of HH's and spending more time on 2+2. I always notice how quick some players are to accept like slightly +EV spots. I would rather make $17.50 and have poker create little-no stress in my life than make $19.25 an hour and find every super high variance +EV spot. Like $800 pots at 1.2 where you are making ~$17 in EV, is not a spot I find enviable. I will gladly fold and let go of that $17 dollars of EV. The stress of the swings is not worth it, and variance/ marginal spots seem to breed more of the same.

Life: Trying to create some new goals and challenges in my life. Biggest thing right now is progress. I think that the root of all my happiness comes from doing what excites me in life and being able to make gradual progress.

Fitness: For someone who analyzes everything and likes complexity, I switched my routine at the gym to a simple 2x a week Upper Body and 2x a week Lower Body split. Been getting some really good results. Feels like Pareto's 80/20 rule to me haha.

Financial: I feel extremely rich to have 2,500 dollars to my name. And I am embracing that part of the journey. I know its not a lot of money in the grand scheme, but for right now I feel RICH. I have enough money to cover my "needs" in life. (Yes I have less money than my "bankroll" is--haha-- #lifeexpenses)

Wish me luck this weekend! And if anyone is going to Twin River/hampton falls, if you see a tall goofball wearing khaki shorts and a black hat.. say whats up!

Enjoy your life!