I've really enjoyed so many of the great poker blogs on Twoplustwo and decided that I'd start my own.

I think this PG&C will help my game a lot and hopefully will provide me some decent feedback, a way to stay focused on the long-term, and get new ideas from some players who are much better than I am.

I am a 21 year old recreational poker player and part-time pizza delivery driver (30 hours a week, mostly nights, like $10/hr) who has spent the last few months immersed in poker strategy in an attempt to be the best player I can be. I have been playing online since I was 13 but never really made any huge strides in my game until recently. Lately, I feel that the proverbial light-bulb has clicked and I am ready to give poker a serious shot.

I'm not sure where this poker journey will lead, but I have decided to approach this with absolutely no expectations and no ego. Whether I go busto or find myself grow into a good poker player, I will be happy with the result and play because I love the game.

The main game I'll be playing is $1/$2 with a $300 max buy in at Harrah's Chester in Chester, Pennsylvania. I'll also occasionally attempt to table select the $1/$3.

October Volume Goal: 130 hours

I also want to work on not playing while tilted, constantly thinking at the table, and not spewing or chasing my losses.

I am sure if I can avoid those mental leaks, I'll be able to make a profit at these stakes.

I am hoping to play the early morning/afternoon games on weekdays and then grind the late afternoon/night games on Friday's when I have off from my job.

Lately, however, I've been super nervous about the possibility of even beating the rake at $1/$2 if I am playing anything except the juicier night-time games. Would anyone with experience be able to chime in on this?

That's all I have for tonight. Good luck, me.

Good luck.

GL

good luck

have you played live before?

Yes I played some 1/2 in florida but not much.

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gl & subbed

what's the structure/rake on the 1/2 and 1/3? And how many tables of each generally run? 1/2 $300 max doesn't sound awful, I'd be more concerned about the 1/2 kinda cannibalizing the 1/3, it seems odd for one casino to run both.

Rake is like $5 + 1 for bbj. Parx is $5 I believe but I always hear the player pool is better over there.

I'm not sure how many tables run but from what I can guess based on Parx and the Chester thread, probably like 8-10 1/2 and a couple 1/3, but I could be off on that.

I really have no problem playing 1/3 though if its a good game. I make like 250-300 a week with almost no expenses so the bankroll should grow quickly.

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subscribed.

good luck. crush.

I have had many conversations with good players about this. I've had people tell me if you're breaking even, you are essentially crushing $1/$2 with the rake/tips. I was at about $13/hour in 2012. I'm probably much lower this year as I've run crappy and played worse.

Wednesday 10/2 report:

My table today was pretty nitty overall and played very straightforwardly. They played their hands near face up every time. There was one LAG player to my direct right. He started the game playing very aggressively, raising many pots and seemingly taking stabs at pots where his opponent showed weakness. He slowed down a lot as the game got a bit looser. One hand with him that I butchered badly and am still mad at myself for:

A raise to $17 from EP, LAG calls, I call with AQcc on the button. Everyone is $200+ deep, LAG and I are $300 effective.

Flop ($65ish): xxx two clubs, all low cards

EP bets $35, LAG calls, I try to raise but accidentally call because of string betting or something.

Turn ($170ish): blank, no club

Check, check, I lead for $75, EP folds, LAG raises to $200

I have $30 behind. I'm getting 3.5 to 1 on a call, and like 3.8 to 1 on implied odds assuming I'm getting the last $30 100% of the time if I hit.

I need 5 to 1 for this to be profitable, though. I don't have it. But I am not counting the size of the pot, it just looks big, and I may have thought I needed 4:1... so I call and the river bricks and I light $125 on fire.

Also: Turn bet was so tiny because I know these guys aren't worried about the size of the pot. A bet of $75 has very similar fold equity to a bet of $110.

River is atrocious obviously and I'm never going to make that mistake again. I'm always going to count the pot from now on whether I'm in the hand or not.

What do you guys think of flop play? I felt I had enough fold equity on this low board to justify a semi-bluff. The original raiser was c-betting a good amount of the time and I had seen the LAG player fold often when anyone got aggressive on him. The only thing I don't like, that I didn't think of, is that it opens us up to being shoved on and being blown off our equity.

Anyway, I ended up battling back from -270 on the day to get close to even. Then I was fortunate enough to get a set of 5s over a guy's set of 4s for a huge pot.

A couple hands later, just as I'm about ready to rack up, this hand comes up (I have about $600ish, LAG covers, MP just bought back in for $200, EP is shortstacked, like $40 or something:

EP limp, MP limp (guy I just stacked with set over set), LAG raises to $5, I 3bet to $35 with AK. EP calls, MP shoves for $200 LAG folds

So it works out to be like $300 in the middle and $165 more to me. The above works out to be like $280 but there may have been some more dead money.

While its certainly possible he overlimped AA/KK and is limp/cold 4bet shoving, I just don't know why someone who just got stacked by set over set a second ago would not play a big hand aggressively. I think he can definitely show up with QQ/AK here, maybe JJ? I was thinking at the table it could be possible for him to even have AQs if he's tilted enough. Getting 1.8 to 1, and maybe even a little more if the shortstack came along, I felt I had to call because there was enough in his range that I'm flipping with and I couldn't see why he'd play AA/KK this way. Thoughts?

Buy in: $570 ($300 + $270 top up)
Cashout: $999
Tips: $8
Time: 4.5 hours

solid session monetarily, but i'm still pretty upset with the way I played the AQcc hand.

$13 an hour is solid. I can't imagine someone breaking even being a crusher. I know the rake is bad but so are the players. I think it definitely could be possible in the morning/afternoon games to play more LAG and be very aggressive post flop and make a very good profit. LAG/TAG might depend on how deep others are but at my table today (10:30 AM - 3:00 PM), it was definitely possible to push people around postflop with aggression. Pre-flop, not so much unless you were raising over limpers.

I made some looser raises as the session went on and I saw people folding a lot more than the night-time games I play at 1/2. It worked out pretty well for me, I think I had a lot of fold equity. I didn't press the issue, though, and do it too often. That was largely due to a player to my right who was pressing the issue maximally.

gl. sub'ed.

like you said 1/2 players are terrible so anyone who is breakeven is not a crusher. A good player should easily be able to attain a $20/hr win rate at 1/2 because the players are that bad.

GL OP from your posts you seem to have a great mindset and the tools to crush.

10bb/hr is attainable, but is a stretch to consider it 'easily' done

One thing that I haven't addressed on here:

I don't really have a firm bankroll right now. As I said before, I have no expenses except for the gas it takes to get to and from the casino.

Right now, I have around $1700 liquid cash (not sure if I'm even using that term correctly, $1700 on me is what I mean). I make about $250-300 a week at my job and plan to add most of that to my poker bankroll. I'm not "properly rolled" in the games - but the guaranteed cash flow offsets that in my opinion. I never really felt "scared money" or anything today and I didn't think about my bankroll once during the session - or let it affect my decisions.

I feel that I'm in a good place in regards to my bankroll; I should have over $2000 by Monday of next week (Oct 7th) and that should be a decent bankroll to get started. Going broke, while possible, obviously isn't the end of the world for me since I'll have more money coming in from my job.

I'm still going to track it in this thread, though.

Current Bankroll: $1695

I agree with this. Especially since I play the nitty morning and afternoon games, a huge bb/hr such as that is going to be very difficult. No one is going to just hand me there chips. The guys I played with seemed to have fold buttons when they didn't have a top pair type hand.

That said, they all played very straightforwardly. I always knew when they had a hand and when it was safe to put out a bluff. Check when they miss, bet when they hit, etc. Also, similarly, they'll call flop with a lot of weaker hands such as a pocket pair that is an under-card (like 99 on a KTx board) but they'll generally fold turn and river with hands like that.

A style where I am playing raised pots 2 or 3-ways in position with a looser range and then playing very aggressively post-flop seems like it would work really well in these nittier morning games.

However, the only thing I'm worried about is that they take a decent chunk of the pot out for rake. I'm not sure if a LAG style can be profitable in a game with a rake such as this. The rake is 10% up to $5 max + $1 drop which is pretty large for $1/$2. I am curious what people's thoughts on this are and what experiences they have with it.

Yeah if you have money coming in you don't have a bankroll, it's a budget. Which is honestly a better thing to have. If everything goes tits up you are only going to be out until your next paycheque. No need to think in terms of "I don't have enough buyins" or whatever. So long as you can bring multiple bullets on any given day you are golden.

I think you are going to spew playing lag. It can be fine if you are playing it close to optimally. But leaks plus the added rake are going to sink you.

Also one of the best skills a lag can have is valuebetting like a madman which is what you should be working on for your tag game anyway.

But, you know... You can be tag and just bluff more. Or have some light raises IP if people are always calling to see a flop and folding.

I like this best and its more the idea I had in my head. I want to continue to play tight, but play looser than I normally would in position.

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I understand that it isnt easily done, but I said a good player (im talking top 1-2% of players who are "crushers") should easily be able to do this. Maybe this is a little far fetched but was just trying to get the point across that most 1/2 players are terrible and beating the rake should not be an issue for any decent player. It seems like OP falls into this category and with his decent buy in structure that is higher than 100 bb cap I really think $20/hr will not be difficult for him.

10/3 report:

Played another 4.5 hour session today and didn't get any big hands. I won one medium to large size pot for like $100ish maybe.

Finished the day +$27

Things I think I need to improve on:

1. Playing tighter in the first 3 seats

- Be more aggressive at the nittier morning/afternoon tables. People play extremely tight vs pre-flop raises in these and even if they do call, they play very straightforwardly post-flop. They'll fold to my c-bet almost every time if they miss and call if they hit. So why not isolate more often with a very wide range? I either wasn't doing this or kept getting dealt 84o when I got in a spot. I do want a hand with some equity when I iso such as a suited and somewhat connected hand or a hand with blockers to a strong limp/calling range.

- Also, I think I should be raising more often with multiple people limped into the pot. Even guys who are limp/callers play super straightforwardly post-flop so why not raise lightly, thin out the field to 1 or 2 players, and just outplay them post-flop (which usually equates to barreling good flops).

I was definitely playing very tight the last two days against a nitty/passive/limpy/straightforward pool of opponents. I think its +ev to stay tight, and I will in general continue to stay tight, but being more aggressive is a must in my opinion against these kinds of players who never bluff and never really do anything that isn't straightforward.

That said, I doubt I'll be able to put any of these concepts to the test until next Wednesday - which will be my next morning session. I'm planning on playing Friday night and Saturday morning/afternoon. I might take a 100 bb shot at a 1/3 game too.

I also got a free night in AC so I'll be looking forward to that as well. I'm hoping to go in a few weeks and play at the Borgatta.

Any thoughts and opinions are appreciated. I have a lot to learn and I'd really like to know if anything about my thought process is misguided.

10/3:
Buy-In: $300
Cashout: $327 (+$27)
Tips: $2
Time: 4.5 hours

Totals:
Bankroll: $1850
Profit: $456 ($50.67/hour)

stop tracking your tips. just tip. and tip better. $2 in 4.5 hours? lol. you realize dealers make like $6/hour plus tips, right? they are good people and you will get a bad reputation if you aren't tipping at least decently. $2/4.5 hours means you tipped on two pots. $1/per pot.

i tip $2 per hand i win when there is a flop. if i win $500 or more in a pot, i tip $5. i tip each dealer $1 when they leave the table after their down.

again, they are working on tips. tip them.

I only won one big pot this session for like 100 and tipped $2. I can't imagine tipping every single pot won, especially in 1/2 with ridiculous rake, that has to really damper your win rate.

I understand your argument but from what I can tell, the dealers are doing just fine. They get tipped on almost every hand they deal. If they deal 25 hands in an hour, they must make like 15-20 an hour in tips?

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also I'm tracking my tips so I know my who rate purely in big blinds per hour with no external factors

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