A few random hands I just remembered that I'd like to insert.

5-10NL at Commerce. Effective stacks 1750. Villain in hand is a young, very attractive Chinese Girl named Susie. My guess is she's around 23-25. She looks uncannily like my psycho ex and it threw me off at first. She seems to be a regular in the game. Not sure exactly how she views me. She seems like a straightforward TAG. Seemed fairly competent and thinking. Not sure exactly how she views me. Not sure how observant she is. Probably on the aggro side, but I haven't shown down any of my hands at this point. But this is my first time 3 betting anyone PF.

Hero is dealt AK in the SB.

PF: Villain opens to 45 in MP, gets 3 callers behind, Hero makes it 200. Only villain calls.

Flop(535): 884
Hero bets 400, Villain thinks for about 20 seconds and calls.

At this point I pretty much put her on TT-QQ. I think she's good enough where she's not going to stack off as my line basically looks like KK or AA and I think she's good enough to see that.

Turn(1335): 7
Hero goes all in, Villain tanks for about 1 min and then calls. Well so much for my read lol.

River(3645): Brick City.

Hero flips AKo and Villain does a double take as I'm sure she thought she was losing and flips up JJ Guess she doesn't understand anything about hand ranges.
Well that's why they call me SPYU.
Lesson learned. Don't bluff someone unless you actually see them lay down a hand even if you think they will because they seem solid. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get another hand with her during that session.

Very nice girl though. But after talking with her for a little bit I could see her hand reading wasn't all that great. She was telling me a hand in a tournament where an old man limp reraised her from UTG then b/3b a J high flop. She said she thought she made a bad lay down w/ QQ.
She said she was going to Vegas for the WSOP and was renting a house with 4 other guys. Wow. Also told me how some guy stakes her in a 10/25NL home game that he hosts every Thu. What a sweet deal. I wish I was a pretty girl so I could get stakes like that.

This next hand is vs the fish in the above post who limped the button with JTs then cold called 490 more all in PF.

Effective stacks 650.
PF: A player raises in MP to 40, hero calls on button with Q5, Villain calls from SB, rest fold.

Flop(130): 865
Villain checks, Original PFR checks, Hero checks

Turn(130): K
Villain bets 75, fold, Hero calls. One reason why this player was a fish other than his plays illustrated above were also that he would make river bluffs that made absolutely no sense. Even after I gave him $500 on the first hand at the table I took it back from him in 2 hands picking off his terrible bluffs. Why are his bluffs terrible? Because they are completely unbalanced. Like I'm talking he plays his value hands sooooo way differently that you can tell he has absolutely 0 hands in his value range when he bets most rivers. Also he keeps bluffing the same guy(me) who keeps calling him. So he has no idea of the concept of adjusting.

So the reason I called the turn is because he would never play a Kx, set, two pair, straight in this fashion. So it's pretty much an easy call. His range here is pretty much 7x, diamond draws, random bluff.

River(280): 2
Villain bets 230, Hero calls instantly. Villain flips A7
He sees my hand and goes, "What the hell?" He says, "How do you call with that?!" I just say, "Sorry just a lucky guess. I don't know I just don't like to fold when I have something. It's 50/50. Sometimes I fold, sometimes I call. I just guess." He says, "Would you have called if I went all in?" I say, "I don't know it depends what my guess is at the time. But probably fold."

That's also the reason why I was able to instant call him when he open shoves for 5.5x the pot HU with top pair. His range is FDs. And that's it. He is probably the most extreme case of unbalanced play that I have ever come across anywhere. He plays his draws one way, his marginal made hands one way, his bluffs one way, and his nut hands one way. None of his lines overlap in the slightest. Of course he left broke after 4 or 5 $500 buy ins. God I wish he had a lot of money and bought in deep.

Anyways gotta run some errands and look forward to trying to run good tonight!

OP,

That QJ v. J9 hand is gross. Don't know about you, but I would take a 30 minute walk after that hand if I choose to continue to play. But we need players like that in our game to make money so you just have to rub it off and go on to the next hand, although I know that hand was a sick amount of money. Hope your bad streak ends soon and run better. GL

Yeah that hand really sucked. I wasn't tilting, but it did hurt a little. Also most of the fish had left the table so I just went to play the tournament for a change of scenery. Yeah I frequently take short breaks during my sessions and do exercises and stretches once an hour to try and keep myself fresh.

Barry Greenstein is my inspiration for not tilting at the table.

Session 27

Date: Wed 5/16/2012
Venue: Hollywood Park
Hrs: 5.3 hrs 9p.m.-2:20a.m.
Total Hrs: 102.9
Game: 5-5NL, 5-10NL
Profit: $2604 ($984 in 5/5); ($1620 in 5/10)
Running BR: $40428

Downswing is finally over!! Well at least for the time being.

Went to play last night and there was 1 seat open in the 5-10 game when I showed up. As I approach my seat to sit down guess who is sitting to my left? The J9o uber fish guy from the other day!!! I was thinking holy crap what are the odds? Since I've never seen that guy before the session at Commerce. And I've played at HP a lot and have never seen him there. The poker gods must have felt bad for me haha.

Anyways him and another fish who was at my table when I was at Commerce was there as well. Suffice it to say I was quite excited. Unfortunately the fish only had about $800 in front of him. The table was pretty good. There was really one other good player at the table and I had played with him once before. The fish and him were both to my left. But a seat opened up on the other side of them and I was quick to take it.

I usually buy in short until I figure out what's going on, but since I was already very familiar with most of the players I just bought in for 5k to cover everyone.

The fish was donating his money pretty quickly so I was worried that it would all be gone by the time I had my chance. But luckily he sucked out on some guy and the good player made a bad triple barrel bluff vs him when he called down 3 streets with 2nd pair. Not surprising. So when this hand comes up he actually has about 1600 in front of him.

Key Hand Effective stacks V2 500, V1 1600.
Hero is dealt QQ in BB.
Villain 1 is the uber fish. Villain 2 is a new player who just sat down, bought in for 500 and posted. So no reads on him. He's a young Asian guy in his 20's. We are playing 7 handed at this point.

PF: Fold, V2 checks his post, limp, V1 limps on button, Good player completes SB, Hero raises to 85, V2 calls(at this point I already figure he's probably bad), of course V1 calls, rest fold.

Flop(275): Q 6 5
Hero bets 800, V2 looks shocked and says, "Ok I call I'm all in.", V1 says, "Ok I'm all in too." lmao. I say, "Ok I guess I call. I have the best hand right now."

Turn(2205): 2
River(2205): 6

V2 had 78 ; V1 had 84

V1 rebuys for $1k and predictably he gives it all away in less than 40min. I got another $200 off him before he went broke.

Only other semi-interesting hand is vs the good player.

Hero is dealt JT on button. Villain is a decent thinking LAG. He plays tight in EP and his range is really wide in LP and he isolates weak players in position. He is capable of making any play at anytime without a hand. But his judgement is off sometimes which makes me question his observation skills. i.e. he ran a triple barrel bluff on the uber fish who doesn't fold anything PF or post flop. And no good turn or river cards came that would be good to barrel. Not sure how he views me.
PF: Folds to Villain who raises to 45 in CO, Hero calls on button, blinds fold.

Flop(105): K T 8
Villain bets 80, Hero calls.

Turn(265): 7
Villain checks, Hero checks

River(265): 8
Villain checks, Hero bets 100, Villain pauses for a few seconds then raises to 375, Hero calls quickly, Villain instamucks.

He's a good player, but I don't think he understands how he can really have no value hands in the line he took. At least from how I've seen him play. He probably crushes this game regularly so he probably doesn't balance any of his lines at all since there really is no need. There is nothing I've seen him play this way. Only thing he could have here is an 8, but from what I've seen he would've bet 300 on the river if he had something like A8.

Anyways after the fish go broke we're 4 handed and I'm not interested in playing anymore so I move to the 5-5 game that's running. I run even for awhile in the game losing a little bit trying to put people on tilt with my overbetting. i.e. It is straddled for 10 and everyone limps, it's to me on the button and I go all in for 500. This one guy gets so irritated he gives me a 5 min lecture on how stupid my play is no matter what my hand is and that if I get called I'm crushed, bad odds, blah blah blah. I'm just laughing and say, "Thanks for the tips."

Anyways pretty uneventful table, but a lot of action and players are pretty bad. I made just under 1k at this table and then went home for the night.
Nothing too exciting. I have KQ and get it all in vs K2 on a K Q 2 flop.
Then I have 87s and get it all in vs Q7 on a 5 6 7 flop. Both hands were vs the same awful lady who limped both those hands and called sizeable raises PF with them.

It's nice to get back over $40k. That's kind of a psychological thing I guess. But it was kind of depressing when I dropped below that mark. Hopefully I will be at 50 before too long. If I can be somewhere in that neighborhood by the time I get to Vegas I will be pretty happy.

Well that pretty much sums up my last session here in LA for awhile. Tomorrow is my big move to Sacramento. I guess my next session will be sometime next week when I check out Capitol Casino and the rest of the Sac scene.

What was the thought process with leading 4x pot OTF with top set? Just wondering if there is history with big overbets because it seems like you would miss value here againt most players.

Good job on the win anyway, hope it continues!!

Well the flop was such that I knew that the only hands I could get big action from were draws or maybe 56, 55, and 66. So I wasn't really worried about missing value. Also vs V1 in the hand he tends to misinterpret large bets as being weak. Also he was calling off his stack on any FD he had anyways so I figured I'd go with the unorthodox play of super overbetting the pot.

This isn't my standard line, but if I see that a play like this likely won't matter then I will go for the weirdest line possible.

Ok thanks for the clarification, just such a weird line thought there was some history with overbets which it seems like there was.

Session 28

Date: Fri 5/18/2012
Venue: Hollywood Park
Hrs: 5.3 hrs 1:04 a.m..-6:20a.m.
Total Hrs: 108.3
Game: 5-10NL
Profit: -$4626
Running BR: $35802


The upswing is over!!! lmao. Wow what a crappy session. I hadn't planned on even playing as I was going to be busy moving on Friday. Me and a friend went to see the Avengers and I ended up sleeping through most of the movie. Afterwards I felt well rested enough to go play. So we hit up Hollywood Park.

When we got there, the 5-10 game was going and we were 7 handed when I sat down. I recognized one solid player and one very loose passive fish. The others were unknown to me. Everyone had stacks of about 1500-2k except for one Filipino guy who had about 3500-4k.

The game was quite good. There was a crazy Asian lady who called anything PF and stacked off very light post flop, but she would only buy in for 500 and even short bought for 200 a couple of times. There was the loose passive fish, 2 solid players(though one is overly tight and predictable), the Filipino guy turned out to be pretty tight and conservative as well, then one sort of bad LAG. He would open to or raise to 60 about 70% of hands. But he was pretty passive post flop. He checked most of his range on the flop. Especially the stronger part of his range. But he would bet the turn and river only when he had a hand. I never saw him fire two or more barrels with air.

So anyways as you can see from my stats it wasn't a very good session for me. So what the hell happened you say? Well I played one hand very SPYUtastically, then lost 1 coin flip(where I gambled pretty big PF), and then lost another decent sized pot when I got check shoved with a gut shot and the guy hits on the turn. Here they are in full detail.

Hand 1 "I hate money" Effective stacks $3k. This is pretty early in the session and so I didn't have any reads on Villain yet. Villain in this hand is the Filipino guy. This is stupid, but I thought Villain's stack was a lot smaller than it was. He had 3 $1k chips that I didn't see at all. So I thought he only had like $1500 or so when he actually had me covered. My stupid mistake as I should've asked. So the hand is a lot more spewy because of that.

Hero is dealt JT in CO.
PF: Hero raises to 40, Bad LAG calls in SB, Villain raises to 140, Hero calls, LAG calls.

Flop(420): K Q 8
Villain bets 250, Hero raises to 600, Lag folds, Villain goes all in, hero calls(As I said I thought it was like 650-700 more to call, not 2300. God I suck.
Villain is actually nervous and asks to run it a few times, but I never run it more than once.
Turn(6140): J Thought I had more outs at this point(I didn't)

River(6140): 7 Damn it!
Villain tables KK

So less than an hour into the session already stuck 3k. I reload for 5k.

I start battling back and get to the point where I'm only stuck like 500 for the session. Then these next two hands take place about 2 hrs later.

Hand 2:
Hero is dealt 97 on the button.
Effective stacks Villain 1 has about 2700, Villain 2 has about 1100, hero covers. Villain 1 is the Bad LAG, Villain 2 is a solid professional player. He's an older Asian guy named Joe who has played for a very long time. He's sort of a nit and plays pretty tight pre and post.

PF: Filipino guy raises to 40 UTG, Call, Hero Calls, Villain 2 Calls, Villain 1 makes it 300, fold, fold, Hero calls, Villain 1 calls?(This is pretty out of character for him). But I doubt he is giving the LAG much respect. But I actually give him credit for a big hand because he is 3 betting an UTG raiser pretty big from OOP.

Flop(980): 987
Bingo! V1 checks, V2 bets 300, Hero goes all in, V1 calls, V2 tanks for a long time and folds to my surprise.

Turn(2080): 3

River(2080): 8 F*&#*&#!
V1 flips up TT. Ok so lost a coinflip whatever.


Hand 3: Villain in this hand is loose passive fish.
Hero is dealt QQ in HJ.
Effective stacks $1k.

PF: Villain limps UTG, Limp, Hero makes it 75, Bad Lag calls on button, Limpers call.

Flop(315): 9 6 4
Villain checks, Crazy Asian lady goes all in for 135, Hero makes it 300, Bad Lag calls, Villain tanks for awhile and then just shoves for about 625 more, Hero calls, Bad Lag reluctantly calls.

Turn(2925): 7
Villain jumps up and says, "Yes!!!!! Yes!!!!!! There it is!!!!!" Ooook so you check shoved with something like J8 of spades?
Turn goes check check.

River(2925): 3
Check check. Villain tables 85. nh.

Anyways that's what losing a coin flip, getting unlucky, and playing stupidly will get you.

We got to our house yesterday and are all moved in now. Now we're just unpacking our boxes and organizing the house. I plan on playing my first session in Sacramento sometime later this week maybe Wed night. My first stop will be Capitol Casino which is the closest to my house. Gotta get my crap together and start playing well and running better.

Played my first session in Sac at the Capitol. Played the 5-10 for about 8hrs. Lost $8800. I'm pretty demoralized. I was playing pretty aggro high variance, but at the same time was running really bad add well. So that can get ugly pretty quick. I also made some bad calls and bad laydowns as well. I gotta regroup. I'm going to take the rest of this week offs and start fresh next week. Just gonna spend time with my family and get my mind off poker for a bit. Hopefully I can grind a small comeback before Vegas. I might just drop down to 2-5 for awhile until I get to Vegas. I'm posting from my phone so it's not as detailed. Internet gets hooked up tomorrow. I will detail some of my horribly played hands then.

Internet is finally hooked up woo hoo! Anyways like I said in my previous post Tue night was a pretty disastrous session. It was a mix of playing too aggressively(spyuing off my chips), bad beats, and playing waaaaay too loose(tilt).

Looking back, I found as the night went on I got more stuck I was tilting. It wasn't a steaming tilt, but a really subtle tilt that made play really loose. I was really off my game by the end of the night. This was an expensive lesson and wake up call. It just shows how hard I need to continually work at the mental/emotional control portion of the game. I can't let it slip for even a second when I'm at the tables. Because that money is too hard to get back. I figure the last session and the other downswing set me back about 4 months.

Like I said I'm not playing until next Tue. Gonna enjoy the weekend with my family. Bought a gym membership today at Anytime Fitness. I like the place because it is close to my house and it was really clean and not crowded at all. I'm going to stick to a playing schedule from now on rather than just go at random times like I've been doing. I'm going to play 5p.m.-1a.m. Tue - Fri. On the 1st and 15th of the month I will also play on Sat nights.

Got 3 wks til Vegas so hopefully I will be able to get some money back before I head out. Really looking forward to Vegas. Plan on grinding Cash mostly at Aria and the V. Might check out the Bellagio 5-10 as well since I've heard it's pretty good. I plan on staying there from 15 June until 10 July. Hopefully I run/play well early. If that happens I will play a couple of small tourneys. I will also play a super satellite to try and win a seat to the ME. I've always really wanted to play it as I feel I'd do very well. Historically I've done fairly well in deep stack long structure tourneys.


Session 29

Date: Tue 5/22/2012
Venue: Capitol
Hrs: 11 hrs 6:30 p.m.-5:30a.m.
Total Hrs: 119.3
Game: 5-10NL
Profit: -$8800
Running BR: $27002

Here are some hands for your amusement. You will be amazed at how I spyumonkeyed my money away. The upside is that all the players will be salivating the next time I show up at the tables and I will get all my hands paid off for a great while. It will probably take them awhile before they realize I've switched to nit mode. Also some of the players play very very strangely as you will see.

1. Hero is dealt 8 8 in BB. Effective stacks $1110.
PF: 3 limpers, Villain limps on button, SB calls, Hero checks.
Flop(60): 5 6 2
check, Hero bets 40, folds to villain who raises to 120, fold, Hero reraises to 300, Villain calls.

Turn(660): 6
Hero bets 800, Villain tanks for awhile and then calls.

River(2260): T
Villain shows QQ wut?! Obviously I spyu'd, but that was the last hand I expected to see.

2. Hero is dealt 57 on button. Effective stacks $1160
PF: Villain limps UTG, 3 limpers, Hero raises to 50, Villain makes it 160, folds to hero who calls.

Flop(365): A J 9
Villain bets 250, Hero calls.

Turn(865): 6
Villain checks, Hero bets 500, Villain goes all in, embarrassing fold.

3. Ok last hand I will post this is getting ugly.
This hand was my last hand of the session. We were playing 3 handed at this point.

Hero is dealt AT in the BB. Effective stacks 1275
PF: Villain raises on the button to 40, fold, Hero makes it 140, Villain calls.

Flop(285): A J 2
Hero bets 150, Villain calls.

Turn(585): 3
Hero checks, Villain bets 285, Hero calls.

River(1155): 4
Hero checks, Villain goes all in, Hero calls. Villain shows AK
nh.

Mix in some more bad play, Aces getting cracked and other standard beats, 2 coolers and you have my night.

Tue night I'm going to start anew and grind 8hrs of 2-5 and see where I'm at. Just gotta get back to the basics of good solid abc poker.

Spy,

Think we are allowed to play bad every now and then, but we're not allowed to go on tilt if we hope to remain profitable. Money earned at the poker tables is not easy to come by so don't ever let your tilt spill those hard earned profits.

I often take frequent walks, usually once an hour to clear my mind & my blood flow. I can't speak for the rest of the free world, but these small walks help me tremendously. Hope you run better soon.

Thanks for the input. Yeah that's certainly the truth. It's so easy to lose money, but 4 times harder to make it back. I worked out yesterday for the first time in a long time and am getting the rest of my routine together so I can prepare myself to hit the grind hard next week.

Def agree being also a 5/10 live full time reg i know how difficult it is out there just with variance mix in tilt then your shooting yourself in the foot and killing your hourly, by looking at your style of play and such i think maybe having a stop loss (2-3 max bi) is a good idea, generally speaking if you cant recover from 3 buys + chances slim to get even and very likely to go deeper...i feel as if your talented enough to make it but if you dont get your mental leaks fixed you wont make it to the next level, one thing that works well for me is i try not to lose more than what i know i can make the next day or 2

anyways op man wish you the best of luck

Thanks for the advice pomona. I think that is a good point. I will implement a 3 BI rule for myself. I have always believed that you should stay if the game is good no matter what, but I think somedays for whatever reason it's just not your day and it does affect you mentally and also people's perception of you hurts you.

Nice thread, suscribed

I'm only a 1/2 live player, but relistenning frequently to "The Eightfold Path to Poker Enlightenment" help me a lot.

GL

Thanks Manzito. Yeah I always have to keep rereading and Tommy's stuff and I also like to read the Poker Mindset. I need it fresh in my mind. And it's always a constant work in progress.

I can just see how much it has helped though. If I was in this same situation I'm in 4 yrs ago. I would've already tilted off the rest of my roll playing tourneys or doing something stupid like playing 25-50 or something. I would've never even fathomed the idea of dropping down for awhile which is what I'm doing when I start grinding again next week.

I like the fact that I don't get wrapped around what stakes I play or others play anymore. I've been all up and down the ladder. People that play higher just have more money that they have or are willing to play with at that particular point in time.

Session 30

Date: Tue 5/29/2012
Venue: Capitol
Hrs: 3.5 hrs 6:45 p.m.-10:15 p.m.
Total Hrs: 122.8
Game: 5-10NL
Profit: -$1456
Running BR: $25546

Lost another 1.5 BI. Nothing really interesting. I shoved flop w/ 10 outs and got called by a weak top pair. Brick out. After that it was just standard stuff like raise AK get 4 callers nothing on a wet flop. Or Flop trips and run into flush.

After a full week off from last weeks debacle I felt good. I was playing much tighter and it just sucks that I was really card dead and the hands I did get, I totally missed the flop and I wasn't in a good spot to barrel or anything to take down pots. Plus half the table remembers me from last time so I was getting free cards like crazy on my draws, but I couldn't hit anything.

People were checking hands like top two pair to me on pretty draw heavy boards. If the cards had even run slightly well in my favor I would've made a lot of money, but no dice. Just decided to call it a night after 3 hrs because I hadn't won a pot the entire night so my image was bad and there wasn't much opportunity for me to turn it around by playing aggro and stealing.

Also the action was not really that good. There was a super action player when I first got there, but he was on a sick heater. He got Aces 3 times in a row. The first two times he took down a decent pot PF. The third time he stacks a guy who has Kings. This guy was straddling 30-50 everytime. And he was raising a lot of hands and hitting. Unfortunately didn't get any hands vs him. And he left and the game really died down.

I called Casino Royale to see if they had any games going. They only had 1 2-5 game. Pretty depressing. I guess I'm going to be resigned to only playing games on the weekends as there doesn't seem to be decent action during the week. After I come back from Vegas I'm going to have to find a new game plan.

I might have to just go to San Jose a few days at a time each week and play in spurts, rather than just try and play 5 days a week.

Anyways I'm probably not going to play until Saturday night. I'll call around and see where the action is at. Probably Thunder Valley.

God I miss LA.

Spy,

I know it is not something that we'd like to do, but since you're on such a pretty bad downswing right now, think you might want to consider just taking a break, an extended break, like maybe for a week or two!!!!

When you're on a downswing, it's tough to try to understand why "in the moment," but perhaps a break might give you some needed time away from the tables to re-coup your mind and body and to reflect on some things you're not doing right at the tables. I am a strong believer in having a good balance in our life to be successful in whatever venture we choose to partake.

Anyway, I hope you kill them next session!!!!

Thanks quiet. Yeah I'm not gonna play for the next couple of days. I did take a week off after last week's bad session. I think I'm going to play the $220 tourney at Casino Royale this Saturday and see how that goes. Yeah I'm gonna keep my sessions to minimum until I get to Vegas. I'm still gonna play on the weekends though.

If anyone reading this will be in Vegas 15 Jun onward and knows of a place or needs a roommate let me know! The guy I was gonna room with can't make it.

Session 31

Date: Thu 5/31/2012
Venue: Casino Royale
Hrs: 4.3 hrs 9:50 a.m.-2 p.m.
Total Hrs: 127.1
Game: 1-2NL
Profit: -$47
Running BR: $25499

Had some free time during the day today so decided to check out Casino Royale. It's a small room in a weird location(right next to residential neighborhood). The floor guy was really nice as were most of the dealers.
As far as the session goes, nothing much going on. I played like a maniac to blow off some steam, but I had a hard time losing because the players were so bad. Anyways I didn't come to really play a session anyways, but a guy on here offered to sell me a seat for Sunday's $220 tourney for $200. Twenty bucks I can't pass that up! haha.

It's a small room during the day time so I didn't expect much. There was a 4-8 O8 game and a 1-2NL game. The 1-2NL game is a little different because to call PF you must call $4 not $2 even though the BB posts $2. I wasn't aware of this for the first 3hrs of play lol. I just thought these guys were weird because they would all raise it to $4. So it's really like a $1/$4 game.

I liked the vibe of the room much better than Capitol. The players were much more recreational and much more gambloor types. Reminds me of the players at Hollywood Park. So compared to the Capitol which consists of mostly prop players, the owner, and some other nits, this place I imagine would be a lot more action.

Even though the game was $1/$2 a few of the players told me they play in the $2/5 game in the evening which they said plays pretty big and is pretty much like a $5/10. I look forward to checking it out as I probably won't be back at Capitol anytime soon. As I will probably play at Thunder Valley on weekend evenings and then go back to Royale during the week.

Anyways I just finalized my playing schedule for Vegas and I'm excited. I've decided I'm going to make a run for it and just go balls to the wall with my BR.

I arrive on the 12th and will be staying for about a month. Before my plan was to just grind cash and not play any tourneys. But I looked at all the tourneys going on between the V, Wynn, and WSOP and I can't resist. I'm going to be playing a bunch of events and grinding cash in between. The first few events I play will just be the 340s, 400s and 600s. Depending on how they go and the cash games go I will play in the bigger events. I really want to play in the ME for each the Wynn, V and WSOP. But we'll see what happens. I will come back very rich or broke. Should make for an exciting time more in the spirit of BBV. Wish me luck!

Looking forward to updates bro!

Session 32

Date: Fri 6/1/2012
Venue: Thunder Valley
Hrs: 6 hrs 11:30 p.m.-5:30 a.m.
Total Hrs: 133.1
Game: 2-5NL
Profit: -$102
Running BR: $25397

Some family came over to visit and we went to Thunder Valley Friday night. So it was an impromptu session. Pretty decent action. This was my second time at this place. Everything about it sucks except for the players/action which is the best I've come across by far in Sacramento.

They had 4 2-5 games going when I showed up and even by the end of my session 2 tables were still running.

The players were pretty bad and it was a very easy game. I was playing extremely loose and ******ed and still breaking even in the game so that is very telling.

There was this one Chinese guy named Billy who was an apparent regular there. I truly don't know if what he was doing was a brilliant act to tilt people or that's who he really was. I suspect the latter, but his character was so ridiculous it was hard to believe. He had a friend sitting next to him who apparently didn't know about poker. So Billy was commentating throughout every hand he played and even those he didn't play. Full analysis even during the hand. And he literally never stopped talking, it was so funny.

As far as my session goes, nothing interesting at all. These players were just straight forward nothing fancy, but they played too loose PF and paid off way too easily with any pair/any draw. And also were very passive with their good hands so it was a very profitable table.

I was up $300 and then about 10 min before I was going to leave it get KK in the bb. 2 limpers, Guy on button raises to 40, I make it 140, fold, fold, he shoves I call. He has Aces. I leave stuck $100. Whatever.

Anyways today I'm about to go play that $220 at Casino Royale. I'm looking to take it down! I'm really excited about Vegas. I finally got a room with someone who coincidentally lives in Sacramento too. So that's pretty cool. So I'm set for the first 2 1/2 weeks I'm there. After that I guess I'll be homeless lol.

Session 33

Date: Sun 6/3/2012
Venue: Casino Royale
Hrs: 8.5 hrs 11:00 a.m.-7:30 p.m.
Total Hrs: 141.6
Game: $230 Tournament
Profit: $3510
Running BR: $28907

As I said I played the tournament today. It was a $220 + $10 chip add on. So really a $230. But I bought a ticket off another 2+2er for $200 because he had an extra one. So my cost was actually $210.

It had 57 entries. Starting stack of 14k if you did the add on which I assume everyone did, and 30 min levels. There was decent play throughout and was decent for a 8-9hr tournament. They paid 7 spots.

It was a super soft field. I would say there were a total of probably 4 people that had a clue what they were doing. It is very telling when everyone is wanting to chop when there are 15 players left. I was the bad guy and said as long as I'm in I won't make any deals. So of course everyone hated me.

Anyways I ended up shipping it for $3950 and tipped $30. It was ironic that the guy who played me HU was the guy who sold me his extra ticket. That was pretty funny. But even when we were 9 handed I had a feeling it would be me and him.

All the 9 man SNGs I used to play really helped me out a lot so I'm happy I used to grind those.

It was a fairly long HU match for a tournament this small. We played for about an hour. I went in having a decent chip lead on him, but I was totally card dead for the first 45min. Not even exaggerating at all I did not see a card above a T. I kept getting 25o and 63o. Which would've been fine, but he had hands to shove with and so I bled off chips to him until the situation was reversed.

At the point where he had a 3 to 1 lead on me I just shipped it w/ 74o and he snaps with something I don't remember. I river a straight.

After that he raises and I ship w/ 88 and he calls w/ QJo and I hold up.

Now I'm leading again 3 to 1.
Then I raise w/ K8o and he ships I call and he shows A6o and I'm very happy to have a 60/40. I turn an 8 and that's all she wrote.

Happy to have won and this is a nice start of things before I go to Vegas.

How did you accumulate most of your chips in the tourney? Did you LAG it up or play tight? cooler ppl?

I agree with tourneys being super soft, a lot of people make horrible folds when they are getting great pot odds.

In the early stages I was at a table of loose passive calling stations so it was pretty easy to get chips. 1. Wait for good hand 2. Value town them.

I built a solid tight image and then when the blinds and antes got significant most people starting nitting it up and playing super tight abc. That's when I used my tight image to steal a bunch of pots and float people in position abuse the bubble etc etc. And of course not getting sucked out on when you are all in helps as well.

It's amazing how almost nobody realized how expensive each round was. There was a point where it basically cost 20k each round if you just folded. I was picking up a bunch of those pots. And when I got a big stack I was even getting a bunch of walks.