what a bunch of negative nancies in this tread. GL tyty and prove the .02/.05 players wrong.

Saturday, April 9, 2016
Patience!
Ironic after my last post... But...

Friday was brutal. I got owned pretty hard by my own mind. Towards the end of the session I was definitely on tilt. I left shortly after I went on tilt, but not before lighting $600 on fire again, and again.

I was playing solid, up until I started running real bad. I started getting beat in such marginal spots, it started to tilt me about 3 hours into my session. I'd have two pair, they would have a high two pair. I'd have a flush, they would have the higher flush. I flopped a set, he turned a higher set. It happened so close together that it was really hard not to be affected a bit by it. I know I sound like the typical loser and person who claims they 'ran bad'. I am complaining. I have to vent somewhere. My mom sure doesn't understand why this guy just called my all-in shove and got there on the river...

Just to give you an idea of how badly I was tilting... I left the table after this hand and took a break.
UTG straddle, Hero 77 in HJ
Hero raise $35
BU($375 behind, tight semi-reg, doesn't get out of line) raise $85
Folds to Hero, Hero All-in $600
BU Calls - shows AA
Board AKQ73 - even though it's irrelevant...

Last hand of the day went like this... This was my second session where I stacked a guy first orbit for $400 and proceeded to lose all of it from tilting.

This one kid, who I have a little history with, straddled the button. The kid has it out for me, it's official. At first, I thought he was just kinda playing around, but no, he really has it out for me. We had a little back and forth one day a few weeks back, but nothing serious. I guess he just doesn't want to see me do well, many don't. All good. If you don't have any haters, you aren't doing things right.

I looked down at Ad6s and naturally, I raise his straddle to $50 from the HJ after a tight old man limped in from UTG. I raised a bit out of spit for the kid, just to give him a hard time and I was tilting. It folded around to the old man, who called. Flop came Kd9c5d... He checked, I bet $100. He calls. Turn is Qd -- he checked and I bet $220... He thought for about 30 seconds and called. At this point I'm praying a diamond comes through... Sigh... River Ks... He checked and I had about $350 behind and he had me just covered. "I'm all in", I said as he went into the tank for which seemed like forever. He was squirming around, so uncomfortable. "Do I have the flush or do I have the K old man?", trying to portray that confidence. Either one I knew would beat his hand... I thought for a minute he was really going to fold, but he didn't. He called and I had to admit defeat. I turned both cards up, "good call, sir" and he flipped over the good ole' Ace of Spades and Ace of Clubs. ****.

I had the nut flush blocker... That's about all I had going for me in that hand and I played it poorly. No reason to be raising preflop here and as played I shouldn't have bet the flop, that's just stupid. Old man obviously has a monster... I was in a twilight zone of tilting. I had no feelings. I was just losing money over and over. I've been in this 'zone' before and it's been nothing shy of horrible, to say the least. I'm so far out of my normal self when I tilt this bad. It happens very rarely, but it happened on Friday and luckily only for a short session.

I called it a session, down $1500 for the day.

I went home and read all about patience. I somehow came across Matthew Hilger and Ian Taylor's, "The Poker Mindset: Essential Attitudes for Poker Success". Wow, exactly what I needed to read at this moment. If you haven't read it, I highly suggest it. I already read/heard everything in the book before, but I needed to see and process it again. It put me back in the right frame of mind.

I have a headache just thinking about Friday and really don't have the drive and determination to recount all the hands that happened today. I wrote a few down, but I'm beat.

Today was a good day. I broke even and played about 7 hours. My first session I won $350 after I raised to $35 with TT and the guy to my left who I have been buddy/buddy and is super short stacked 3-bet me to $85. Short stack to my right called and I called, after I so badly wanted to fold and knew I should fold. But stupid me, I called, getting a real good price and the flop came 9 high. God damn it. We checked and he went all in for $130. Guy to my right went all in for $50 and I'm sitting here with TT on a 9 high board with about $420 out there and only $130 for me to call. $130 to win $420 on a 9 high board when I know I'm behind... SHIP IT IN TYLER! ****ing genius.

I called and was bad. Dude to my left had it, KK. I couldn't catch a T and lost the $200. I quit after this hand up $350. The table was real bad at this point. All the fish left and was just nits left.

First hand of the next session I was in the BB. It folded around to the SB, who is a rich, middle-eastern older man from out of town.

"Do you want to chop", I asked him. He just pushed his $5 chip forward. The dealer looked at me and I said, "Oh well, I guess he wants to play, lets play". I look down at TT. I throw a $25 raise out and he check-raises me to $80. Old man really wants to play, eh? I contemplated a re-raise, but we weren't deep enough so decided to just call and see a flop. He had about $500 behind and I had him covered.

Flop Td7c3d -- Sick. He checks, and I checked
Turn Kc - He leads out for $50 and I raise to $125, he calls.
River 7s - He checks and I overbet all-in. He calls

he bangs the table saying "nice hand" and showed AKo. He re-bought.

I couldn't get much going after this as I ran real poor. I played real patient, waiting for good spots. But I was finding myself in super tough/weird spots quite frequently. I was playing fairly tight because I was card dead after the first hand, just couldn't get much going. The kid who has it out for me came to the table and ran real good against me and the others at the table. I'll give him a little lime-light, maybe the most attention he's ever gotten. He has the 'short-man' syndrome, I'm pretty sure... Time will tell, though.

Well, I had AK and he hit a set with 55 on a A96/5/2 board. He won a super small pot when it should have been huge. He tried to trap me, then tried to slow-roll me with showing me just a 5, the dealer had to make him show his second card. He's a weird dude, I caught him taking a picture of me and/or the table to add to his scrapbook. Weirdos dude, weirdos. People say he's a nice person, I have yet to see it... I guess we just got off on the wrong foot. I didn't show him my AK as I just called a $35 river bet and let him try to slow-roll me... It made him just look like a jackass at the table. Everyone had that "wtf, was that" look on their face, then they looked at him with a puke look. Real classy kid, real classy. It's all in good competition... That's what poker is... Battle of the minds, baby... The total pot was under $100 as the only bet was on the river for $35. I ended up losing $200 for this session after being up $500 and called it a day.

All is good... Tomorrow is a new day and I don't have to care for my Grandfather for the next two days, so it's grinding time. I'm going to put in some major volume over these next two days and hopefully show some good results. Or I'll be broke, who knows! just kidddddinggg

Good luck out there everyone, especially at the tables, but ya... not mine.

It will be internalized and has been my friend. Well said and you're right in many aspects. I've been playing poker for over 13 years. Not lightly either, I've put my time in. I know what the swings are like... Thanks for following the thread, it really does motivate me to do better. Thanks

I'm trying brotha!

Can you explain the math on this more? I'm lazy right now and don't wanna bust out the calculator. I'm also ****ing dense when it comes to math but trying to get better. Thanks in advance.

You had AsKs and he had AA. The flop was something like Qs9s3c. So you had 9 outs. If you put those cards into poker stove or any other calculator you will see that you had a 37% chance to win the $1300 pot.

If it was allowed, you could stop the hand right there at the point of the all in (and not deal the rest of the cards) and the dealer could give you 37% of the pot and give the other dude his share which was 63% of the pot. If you played this exact hand a million times, you would average winning 37% of the pot each time, which is $481.

So based on your equity on the hand, you "deserved" $481 from that pot but you got $1300. You got $819 more than your share.

That's great this time but over the long run, you will get killed if you keep getting all in as a big underdog like this and the only way to realize when and how often its happening is to do calculations like this and calculate what i call "adjusted win rate".

So after this one session lets say you quit with a $700 win. Once you subtract out the $819, you will see that based on how you played, you had a losing session. If you played this exact same session 1 million times, you will be a losing player but without doing this work, you will be dancing around on a cloud thinking you played great when in reality you got really lucky. There will be plenty of other days where you lost a hand as a favorite and the opposite will happen. Instead of going home feeling bad, you will realize you played well and it helps take some of the sting off.

At the end of each week or month you can look at your "adjusted win rate" and get a better idea of how you are doing without having to guess if you are running good or bad.

Gotcha, thanks for explaining. I'll start doing this and see where I'm at in a few weeks.

Hand 1 you had to be tilting hard. Just fold to his reraise pre, you're not nearly deep enough to be set mining. Definitely don't ever shove there you will only be called by better. I've noticed in a lot of the hands you've posted you are doing a lot of shoving pre flop and on the flop. Is this because your not comfortable with your post flop game? Or do you just like applying pressure to villains? The reason I ask is if you have been playing this style over the past few months a lot of players have adjusted to you by now and will be calling you down a lot lighter.

Hand 2: villain checked to you on the turn giving you a free card to possibly hit the flush. Just check back here. No need to charge yourself for the draw. Even if any diamond or ace is good you are still a 3 to 1 dog, and an ace is not good a lot time so you pretty much just have diamonds. You just lit 220$on fire on the turn.

Don't get fancy play syndrome. I give you a lot of credit for taking a break and quitting when you are tilting, that is easier said than done.

I think you said in your post you had some other hands written down. Do yourself a favor and post those hands in LLSNL.
Good luck op.

Notes taken. I'm most likely not posting enough hands for you to get a sense of how I play post-flop. I'm definitely not afraid to play post flop, as I am pretty confident in my hand reading abilities. I hate getting stacks in pre-flop... The hands I post are the ones that stand out most, and most of those stick in my mind because I lost the pot. It seems when I win a big pot or even smaller ones, I just win it and forget about it most the time, which is a horrible habit to get into. I have to do a better job of recording less significant spots to find my real leaks.

Going forward, I'm going to do my absolute best to record my hands played. I'm really looking forward to going over more spots with everyone and will be posting to the low-stakes live sub.

tytythefly

**** the haters, they're just jealous.

keep doing you and stack that paper yo.

Few hands from today's quick session.. Only played a few hours as I had dinner with the family.

UTG Straddled for $10
BB with 33, mp1 raise 35, CO calls, I call
Flop - 3d9hKd - I check, mp1 leads 55, I call
Turn Tc I check he bets 125, I check raise to 350, he jams all in for 800. I snap, River Qd he shows AKo

KJs mp1, utg limps, I raise 30, bu calls(Old man - seat 1)
Flop Jx6h8h - I lead 50 he calls,
turn 9h - check, check
River Qx, I bet 25 he laughs and says "I have to call" shows A6o

Vs same villian - AQs in BB, utg limps, bu limps, sb limps, I raise 35
UTG calls, flop tx7x8s, he leads for 55, I call
Turn 2s, I check, he bets $125, I call
River Qh, check, check... I was thinking of leading the river, but figured I'd let him make the mistake of betting..

Bonus Hand:
AcQs in small blind
MP1 limps, CO raises 15, button calls, I call, mp1 calls
Flop AsJc5c
I check, Mp1 checks, CO bets 30, button raises 80, I check-raise to $250. MP1 tanks for 2 minutes, says he folded AJ, put me on set of 5's Have prior histroy, he thinks i'm a nit somehow. Jokes on him

The last 2 hands are horrible.

As much as I don't want to post this hand, it was the very first hand I played when I sat down today... Played it so bad and was pretty pissed at myself. I had to get up for 10 minutes, walk to my car to walk it off and act like I was starting the session fresh. I did forget about it on that walk. I know I played it badly, which is why I'm posting it. I just want to get better Still thinking about this hand and why I played it so poor. I did play it like **** right?

9Ts MP1 limp in, MP2, raises to 25, CO, BU, SB, BB, and myself call
Flop Kc7h8h - I check, MP2 bets 55, everyone folds and I call
Turn Th - I check, he bets 80 - I call
River - 2c - I check and he bets $215... This guy I don't recognize, obviously he's from Sweden with his blonde hair/blue eyes and accent. He's here just for poker. He's not a fish, so I knew he was capable of bluffing here. I leveled myself and called, hoping he had air with the Ah. Nope....

He flips over the nuts AhKh

How badly did I play this? God just reading this pisses me off, really limp from MP with 9Ts... so bad. Call on the river? WTF. CALL THE TURN!?!? HORRIBLE.

Actually, in a vacuum they are bad. But vs the villians it isn't so bad. The guy in the 3rd hand is a middle eastern gambler who will bluff with any two cards. I think folding the flop would be bad, then I pick up a ton of equity on the turn. I probably should have check raised him on the turn, but I was pretty confident he had at least a pair at this point and would probably call a shove.

The 4th hand I was playing my image at the table of being super tight at the time and the way they were acting led me to believe they were weak.

Not justifying my play, but giving a bit more information.

Trying McLovin, trying... Sometimes it's discouraging to get hated on, but I gotta turn it into encouragement. Work in progress.

BTW side note, I will have stack sizes in the future HH's. Shouldn't be leaving that valuable information out.

Saturday, April 16, 2016
Help Needed...

I'm not sure how to start this blog entry out. So, I'll start it here. I have so much to say and talk about. I'll just ramble and title it with the main point. I need help, ya I need some help. "Help Needed..." perfect... Merry ****ing Christmas Haters!

I just looked at the last date I posted an update and it was a week ago. It feels like 2 or 3 days ago. I have been battling my heart out at the tables, giving it everything I got, with little to no success. It's why I haven't posted. I've been feeling very defeated in the luck area. I kind of feel I'm destined to go broke. Ugh... I've been getting pretty much crushed by bad luck and it has affected my opening ranges and post-flop play significantly. Not in a bad way either. I have scaled way back in my pre-flop opening ranges and have turned into a nit/rock post-flop. I'm playing a lot tighter in general and playing way more passive, but it's not all that bad. I actually believe I'm playing a style most people would agree is correct and a winning style. There's only one reason I'm playing this way and it's because I'm on a bad downswing and my bankroll is totally hurting. I can assure you, I'm not playing bad. It's basically like I'm not balancing my ranges anymore and playing just the top of my range. I'm not balancing, I don't think I really need to every session. I have a somewhat loose image by most regs. I am making mistakes in some spots, you can't be perfect, but overall I believe I'm playing well. My image is pretty loose normally, so for me to be playing tight, it's throwing quite a few reg players for a loop.

"you're gonna have an ******* as big as a horse, Lilly, stop that!", good god, Poppy! (my Grandfather). He just came into my room and told my dog, Lilly, that. What a guy, haha. My little pup is in heat (she's not spayed) so she keeps licking her bottom area, poor girl. Sorry, had to share that. I needed a quick laugh anyway. back to the sob story.

I'm running really bad... Today was no different. I've been playing real solid all day. Haven't gotten in any tricky spots. Kept winning the small pots and fighting my way through the day. I was winning and doing well, up about $350 over 6 hours. Nothing special, but winning any amount right now is awesome. This table was gold, most of the players were so bad. Especially, this whale to my direct left. He was crushing everyone, running like a damn god. He couldn't lose. I didn't put up any fight against him and instantly befriended him as soon as he sat down. Him and I were close today, we were like father and son, battling the table together. He didn't want my money, but I did want his (he had over $3000 in front of him). I just couldn't get anything when he had something, so I just avoided him for the most part. I did miss one spot early in the day. It was within the first 30 minutes of me sitting down (Hand 1 for comments) I was in the SB with 99 and the button straddled. I called the $10, whale called the $10, and a rock/nit in the CO raised to $70. I folded (I know right?) and the whale called. The flop came 9x6x4x --- I showed my buddy as he was passing by what I was folding to the NIT like I was some kind of poker prodigy. I looked at him after the flop and just shook my head and he just started laughing at me. I deserved to be laughed at anyway. That was the one results-oriented spot of the day where I wish I would have called that $60 more. A week or two ago, I am raising this hand 100% of the time in this spot. Today I am calling and even considered opening folding it (just kidding, kind of). Sigh.... You'll see why I folded below. Running bad and low bankroll really makes you do dumb ****.

This young girl sat down to our left with $250 and doubled up off the whale. (Hand 2 for comments)
I was on the button with JJ and it folded around to me... "raise $20", whale folds and the young girl pretty quickly re-raised it to $70. She had about $550 and I had about $800. I call.
Flop KhJd3c --- She leads out for $85 and I quickly call.
Turn Qh --- She then leads out for $125. I raise her to $285 and she goes all-in fairly quickly.
She didn't look confident and I pretty quickly jammed all my chips in the middle. She flipped over AKo and I flipped over my JJ, she has 4 cards that can save her.
The young pro girl to my right didn't even see the straight possibility and said "nice hand"
Only thing I think and say in my head at this moment is "Please god, no ten, no ****ing ten"
River ------------------------------------------------- Ten of ****ing diamonds

On the flop, I had her dominated 97% (me to win the pot) to 3%(her to win the pot) in equity. She picked up some equity on the turn giving her 9% to win the pot. It happened.... again... I topped up with another $400 to get to $600 and kept on grinding it out.

I ran a bluff with AQs on a super dry board and the guy jammed over my river bluff, only bluff I made all session, go figure. I had to fold. I had to pull another $300 out. I ran it up to about $950 before I had to leave for the day, down $450 for the day.

(Hand called "bluff" for comments) Guy is a massive fish and is a huge degen. He's told me he has a gambling problem and just gambles it up.
I had AQs on the button. He raised from the CO to $20 and I 3-bet him to $65. He called. Heads up.
Flop 664 -- he checks, I bet $85. He calls.
Turn 9 -- he checks, I bet $105. He check-raises all in for like $450... sigh. I folded. Played it so bad, no reason to raise the gambler PF here.

(Hand 3 for comments) Girl to my right (shout out to you!!!! Thanks for talking to me today, was refreshing to talk to someone like yourself during my run bad) is a pro, travels the tourney circuit grinding cash games. Solid pro, cute, sweet, nice and bubbly, has solid opening ranges and 3-bets and 4-bets when appropriate, never seen here completely out of line. She does run bluffs though and was caught, once or twice. The other chick to our left called her down with A high on a double paired board and was good. This chick to our left was definetly on cloud-****ing-9 at this point.

I Had AKo in MP2, girl to my right raises two limpers of the button straddle to $50, I just flat and the button calls. Flop ThJhQd -- She leads out for $65, I call, button folds. Turn Qh. ****ing action killer. She checks and I check. River is 8c. She leads out for $20 and I just call. It was such a weird bet by her, I wasn't sure what to make of it. I didn't want to get into some weird ass spot and raise here and then get re-raised. This kind of **** has been happening far too often, so I've slowed down. I have never seen her do this and I've played with her about 12 hours total. I scooped the pot and she showed 89c... I know when I say things like '**** has been happening far too often' is such a fish thing to say. It's not like the past hand is connected to this current hand. It's a losing mindset that I have gotten myself into in certain spots. I think the worst is about to happen, from past results. Bull**** man, bull**** way of thinking. Value owned myself, but to be fair, that board was scary. I should have raised the flop, but I did want the button coming along. I was hoping he hit, but he didn't.

(Hand 4 for comments) Had TT in MP2 and called a $20 bet from MP1, whale to my left calls. 3 way to the flop.
Flop is Jc8d2h - Checks around.
Turn 3c - check, check, whale bets $45, MP1 fold and I call.
River 7h - I check, he bets $50 and I call. I flip over my cards and he mucks 66.

That was my session today, but how am I doing overall?

Not too good.

In April, I've played 100 hours at $2/5 NL and I'm down $403 for the month putting me at -$4.09 per hour for the month. Not good, especially right now. The beginning of April was great, I was up about $2,500 until this past week, it's all gone.

I just paid off a significant debt about 2 weeks ago to a friend who covered my expenses (airfare/hotel/some food/drink) for the Vegas trip, which cut into my roll already and now with this run bad, it's really bad. I can't take any more of losing multiple full buy-in sessions. If I do, I might be busto very soon. I don't want to recount all the bad decisions I made while in Vegas with my money, but it has really hurt me, especially right now when I need that extra cushion. It's because of that trip and those decisions that I'm on the brink of busto right now and it's totally my fault. I'm keeping an open book here. It's embarrassing, really, really, embarrassing for me to admit this and make it public. Every ounce of me doesn't want to write this, but I have to, for myself. I'm being brutally honest, I have to be for this to ever be a profession. Mistakes are going to be made, it's part of life.

So, there it is. I'm at my lowest point since starting this and I'm not sure what to do. It's an early Christmas for all my haters... But before you get too happy over there... There are some positives.

I've put in over 450 hours at the $2/5 tables. I'm still averaging +$36.72/hour over that sample with a total profit of $16,408. I'm a winning player, no doubt. I can beat these games, I have been.

But, here I am... I have accepted it and I'm doing my best to overcome it. I've been battling my heart out since Vegas, because I knew how badly I screwed up. I was on the up and really thought for a minute there that I was fully recovered from Vegas(hence paying the debt off). Right after that, it was all downhill. I'm sitting here wondering what to do. Do I go to $1/2 NL after beating $2/5 NL over a good sample? The thought of that... ugh.

That JJ hand where I lost felt like a ****ing kick to the gut. It hurt, I needed that pot, really badly. That girl got up about 5 minutes after winning that pot on me. I saw her walking (more like a waddle, but we will call it a walk) around outside with her guy friend, just laughing it up. It was a bit tilting, I went home.

Guys and gals, I can't let this end. It's what I wake up for. I don't know what else to do, other than go to Hardrock tomorrow and continue to grind it out. Hopefully, I hit that sweet little upswing that I'm all too familiar with... But what happens if I go bust? What do I do? I don't want to stop living my dream. I don't want to have regrets, but I'm regretting that trip right now. ****ty.

Overall, I'm happy with life. You know I'm still on this journey. I'm not completely gone, just damaged goods. It's just a bump in the road. I mean lets get real though for a minute. This is such small potatoes in the big scheme of things in the poker world. I'm just a small stakes grinder, trying to earn a decent living wage at $2/5 No Limit with the intentions of moving up in limits. No matter what happens, I will keep fighting for this. It makes me happy. I love this game and what it has done for me.

I got to play with Natasha Barbour's sister the other day. She's just learning poker and we got into some solid conversations about the game and her sister and Jason Mercier. Nice gal for sure. It's so awesome seeing pros at Hardrock. Today I saw Jamie Gold (LOL, he was still in the $3500, day 2 and is a WSOP Main event champion), Joe McKeehan (Main event champion), Ryan Reiss (Main event champion), and a ton of other top-top-top tier/pro players. It's so awesome, I love being around this energy. I can't wait until the day I can follow these events around and crush the cash games day in and day out. I'll get there, I know it. I have had a taste of victory and it's too sweet to pass up. I gotta get this turned around.

I want to thank everyone for reading my blog and giving me support. You have no idea how cool it is to hear when someone has read my blog, especially if I don't know them. It gives me such incentive to keep writing and keep this going.

Poker, I'll see you tomorrow, I can't wait.

Good luck in life and especially at the tables, but not mine!

Haven't had a chance to read the whole thread yet but will def go back and start from the beginning soon. Seems like an interesting thread. In terms of your recent struggles, 30 something an hour over your sample at 2/5 is solid of course, but can tell from some of your recent hh that you probably have some large leaks in some of your thought processes. You may want to get some coaching and work on revamping things a little bit as it seems like you are likely pretty solid and there is def potential for adding another $15-$20/hour onto your hourly.

Definitely think about moving down to 1/2 temporarily if you have to bankroll wise. Number one rule is don't go broke. Sure it sucks to temporarily cut your hourly but if you work hard you'll be able to move back up soon. This really depends on what your roll is though, don't think you said exactly how bad your roll is hurting. If you have 8k or more I think it'd be silly to move down with your current edge in the 2/5 games but if you are flirting with disaster and only have a few k then that's a recipe for failure. Best of luck and hope it turns around.

Thanks for the response. I wish I had some coaching.

I have to move down to $1/2 to rebuild... just gotta do it until I have a few more grand.

if you have less than 7k i would go to 1/2 win 3k then try again at 2/5 with 10k. should be pretty fast to win 3k. might even learn some things and gain a new appreciation for the grind.

Sucking it up and going to grind $1/2 today.

You are doing a good thing. Big ego's have caused a lot of poker players to go broke by refusing to move down. A lot of big name pros went broke countless times before they got it right. I think your passion for the game will get you through.
Just think of your poker roll like a small business and only make good decisions for your business. It's the little things that add up when you are trying to grow your roll. Bring your lunch, only drink the free waters etc.... Only tip 1$ per hand. Maybe 2$ if you win a huge pot. No massages from the massage girls.

All this stuff really adds up in a couple months time. You will never achieve anything great unless you make huge sacrifices.

Patience and discipline are the most important things in poker for long term success imo. Balancing hands and all that garbage is really not important until you get to 5/10. People just don't pay that much attention. 85% of your money in 2/5 and below will be won by value betting your hands.
Everything I stated here is just my opinion of course and it worked really well for me, but everyone is different so....
Good luck op, I will be rooting for you!!# sacrifice

Bump.

Update???

Monday, April 18, 2016
Pursuing The Dream (+$500 $1/2 NL)

Quick Update for you guys...
Went to Hardrock at 5pm yesterday. I had about $900 in green and red chips in my backpack from the session before, I didn't cash it out. The $2/5 list was about 8 deep and the $1/2 list had a "seat open", so I took it. The skill difference is astonishing from $2/5 No Limit. The players are clueless, most of them. I grinded till 3am at $1/2 and cashed out $1400. Mind you, I was in for the full $900 because there were such bad players like 300bb's deep and I had to be able to get everything if the opportunity presented itself. I slowly took chips from my backpack to the table until I had it all on there. It took about 3 hours to get the full $900 on the table. I was winning pots left and right, so it was quite easy to add on. I had about $1700 at my high point, but this young, aggressive kid sat to my left and gave me the hardest time I had all night. He was nothing special, but he was the only person to 3-bet me all night, so it was a bit annoying having him at the table and especially right to my left. Our table ended up breaking and I brought my $1700 to a new table and he sat to my left again. He got me for about $200 before the table ended up breaking and I called it a night. +$500 for the session.

One guy, Zvit, some Israeli/New Yorker, was drunk and no lie, had a 100% VPIP (voluntarily put money into the pot). He didn't fold one hand preflop and would basically bluff anytime he missed with air. It was awesome and I basically abused him until he went broke. He was drinking redbull's and vodka all night. You rarely see this at $2/5. I'm going to hang around the $1/2 No Limit tables for a few days and see what I can do. It was a refreshing change from the $2/5 NIT fest.

Time to go play with some 'fun players'!

Good luck in life and especially at the tables, but not mine!

Discipline12, you're really helping me out and I appreciate it bro, a lot. That message you sent me, thank you. As much as I wanted to play $2/5 I sucked it up and grinded it out. I could see people looking at me with kind of a puzzled look playing $1/2. But with my chip stack I think they understood My strategy right now is to find super deep $1/2 games and get in there. I am avoiding all unnecessary spending. I didn't go out to dinner last night with a friend because I needed that $20 and I can eat for free at the tables (promo $$$ from grinding).

I'm really doing my best right now to be smart about every dollar that leaves my hands. I'll update tonight when I get home from my session. I'm heading to Hardrock now to grind.

You realize that's a serious rules violation, right?