$2K winning sesh playing 1/2nl Goal Completed!

Glad to move another goal from blue to green.

MY 10 POKER GOALS FOR 2015.

1). -Be up 6 stacks of high society by the end of 2015 playing 1/2nl up to 10/20nl. $60,000.
2). -No Losing Months. (*April lost -$2,528).
3). -Log an average of 25/hrs a week.
4). -Come in top 3 in the WSOP League Finale. Getting top 3 will win me a Las Vegas tourney package. (WSOP Packages are: $11k, $4k, $1,500. Finale is April 11, 2015). (*ended up getting 5th in Finale )
5). -Log 1,000+ hours at Horseshoe Southern Indiana's poker room. This feat will take me from platinum to diamond card. (1,000hr requirement in a year to get diamond).
6). -Log 200 hrs in Jan and get the $400 promotional bonus HSI is offering. (HSI rake back promotion for Jan rewards a player $2 x hrs logged. 200+hrs requirement). (*Logged 202 hrs in Jan)
7). -Have a $10k winning month. (*January +$10,151 Overall)
8). -Have a $5k winning session playing 2/5nl or higher.
9). -Have a $2k winning session playing 1/2nl. (*+$2,236 on June 26th at HSI.)
10). -Play a 24hr session (*May 18/19th at HCO+$1,059)

All 2015 goals will b posted in blue. If I complete a goal, I will move it from blue to green. If a goal fails, I will move it from blue to red.

__________________________________________________ __________

Here are the details from achieving this $2K playing 1/2nl goal...


Started the night off sitting in the 2/5/10nl and after 45 mins all the players were pushing to switch to 5/10/20nl. I was the only one who didn't want it, but I wasn't going to b the stopper. I said it was cool to switch games, and i was fine w going back to 1/2/5nl. #teamplayer. I told the floor to put back on 2/5/10nl list in case it goes again, and I took my seat at the 1/2/5+nl (mandatory winner straddle) game.
Why didn't I want to play 5/10/20nl? Because I just didn't want to play w a $2k stack (all I had on me). Furthermore, doubt if it is wise for my br...especially w the recent pool hit.

So I switch to the 1/2/5 game and within 10mins of playing one of the top 5 action players sits down. It only takes 1 player to make a mediocre game great, and that's what happened!
This whale that sits down to my immediate left is waiting for the 5/10/20nl game, and decides to splash around in 1/2/5. He is known as "Hollywood" and is the nicest and most generous guy in and out of the poker room. He always wins/loses big like a true boss. With always a smile on his face, you never know if he is up or down. #classact
This legend Hollywood is known for his crazy antics in the poker room. I can attest and seen most of them, so I'll share a few.
-Hollywood has been known to walk by the 3/6 limit table and splash the pot w $300.
-Hollywood has bought shirts off a guy's back for $100. This has happened many times in the poker room.
-Paid $100 to someone for telling him a joke.
-Paid $100 to someone for taking a tequila shot.
-Just last night on FB he posted that he was giving a $200 Steakhouse gift card to a random person who can answer a question.

...the list goes on and on and on...

That is a little backstory of his action, so now back to the pokerz.

...Hollywood sits down on my left, and starts straddling $25, then $100, then $125, then $300.

I was in a great seat w his big straddles, because if everyone folds I can jam a lot of hands being last to act.

I bought in for the $500 max, so if he straddled $100, I'm probably jamming K10+, and taking my chances.

A few orbits go by, and I'm up a few hundo w a $800 stack, and Hollywood has around the same. He straddles for $110, everyone folds and it's on me. I look at KJ and shove $800. He peels one at a time, the first one is an Ace!!!! I quickly went to an underdog w that one card. I thought for sure he wd snap call just seeing the Ace, but he says if his 2nd card is a 9 or higher that he is calling no matter what. I am shaking in my old beat up Vans hoping his second card is a brick 2, brick 3, brick 4, brick 5, brick 6, brick 7, or brick 8. Please brick! He peels it back and it's a 9!!! Uh Oh, it's 60/40, and I'm the underdog 40!!! THEN a second goes by and I realized I saw his card upside down and misread his 6 for a 9! He has A6, and folds.

...Another orbit goes by, and Hollywood accidentally folds the nuts otr to a tight player that had Aces. He can't believe it, but takes it in stride...

Now I'm sitting w $1100 at this point, and Hollywood reloads w $1200 in all blacks. No one cares it's more than the max buy in, and the dealer never noticed or doesn't care either.
After accidentally folding stone nuts a couple hands prior, Hollywood decides to up his straddle to $300! Everyone folds again to his monster straddle and action is back on me. Wowzer, I have KK and shove. Hollywood flips over 55 in his straddle, and calls. He doesn't improve on the flop of , but does pick up a 4 flush draw! I now have to sweat 2 streets of 11 outs! Inside I am SCREAMING NO CLUB OR 5, NO CLUB OR 5, NO CLUB OR 5!!!!
It bricks out and I scoop a nice one.

Win a that nice pot, and continue to play solid to win a few hundred more. Then it dawned on me that I met my $2k goal playing 1/2nl tonight! YES!

+$2,236 playing 1/2/ms on just 3hrs 5mins.
-$18 playing 2/5/10nl on 45 mins

Could have played longer, but really wanted to tackle this goal and didn't want to risk dropping some. Plus the game started to fill w lots of short buys and action was drying up. I feel I left at my peak.


@rayzrayl

^ I forgot to attach the #chipporn from tonight's 1/2 session.

Nice one, soon the whole list is green

I just think i feel bad to tip allways 1 dollars while others allways tip more.
Do you ever care about this?
Are some dealers not look bad, angry etc. when you skip a big pot with luck but only tip so low?

regards

Benin, pretty sure all the dealers know Ray and are cool with 1$ per hand and are content with it.

HALFWAY POINT

Sitting here bored on a Saturday night, so reviewing my stats at various limits to see where I'm making the most money this year.
Looking at these break down is somewhat shocking to me.

Some of the sample sizes are small, so I also grouped a couple filters together. For instance, I filtered 2/5nl and 2/5/10nl on its own, AND also combined the two into one filter.

I'll start posting the stats w 1/2nl first and work my way up to 5/10/20nl stats. Each one will be titled in Purple.
PLO is not listed, only 4 sessions (1/2 and 1/2/5plo) for a combined 4hrs 30mins total hours this year. I usually only play PLO while waiting for my no limit game. -$107 this year on the laughable 4.5hrs total played.
Also not listed is 1 session of 1/2/5 half and half (nl and PLO) +$258 on 4hrs 43mins.
Also not shown is one quick sesh of 10/25/50nl where I lost short $1k buy in.
Also not shown are 6 short 3/6 limit sessions, 1 sesh of 6/12 full kill limit totaling -$238 on just 6hrs 23mins combined hours. Limits games are played just while waiting for my no limit game.
No tourney stats are shown where I am currently down -$425 in 2015.
FWIW, ALL CASH LIMITS MENTIONED IN THESE ITALICS ARE INCLUDED IN CASH GAME TOTAL STATS NEAR THE BOTTOM OF THIS POST.

ALL STATS ARE THE FIRST 6 MONTHS OF 2015 ONLY.

1/2NL STATS



1/2/must straddle 5+ NL STATS



1/2NL AND 1/2/ms 5+ NL COMBINED STATS



2/5NL STATS



2/5 must straddle 5+ NL STATS



2/5NL AND 2/5/ms 5+ NL COMBINED STATS



5/10 NL and 5/10/ms 20+ straddle NL COMBINED STATS




ALL CASH GAME LIMITS COMBINED AT THE HALFWAY MARK OF 2015



The good:
-Really pleased with my $/hour at the 1/2's.
-Right on pace for logging the 25hrs a week GOAL! 597 total hours in cash + 33 total hours in tournaments = 630 total /26 weeks (halfway mark) = 24.2 average hours logged per week.

The Bad:
-Not happy with my winning percentage. The last couple of years it has been closer to 70%.
-Losing at 5/10nl and higher. Grant it, it's less than 30 hours played, but still irks me.

CURRENTLY (as of June 27th):
+$23,806 in Cash
-$425 in Tourneys
+$23,381 Overall

Thanks so much for riding the journey with me. Poker has its ups and downs, it isn't all glory all the time. A lot of times things just dont go your way. The true fighters don't make excuses, don't tilt, and just stay the course trusting in their abilities. It also helps to have a great support staff, and I have a great one here on this thread. I am forever grateful for all of your support!
Upon request, I'm gonna try to add a couple more lame videos to the second half of the year.
The rest of the year I'm just gonna continue to grind and keep showing up. Trusting in my stats, staying within my br, and playing every hand the best I can possibly play it.

Staying hungry, @Rayzrayl

Looking through these stats, and filtering different things is pretty fun and interesting.
Doing my research and what I can to maximize my profits. Not sure how much I shd b looking into these type of things, or if it's a lot of hogwash. But I noticed Fridays are pretty good for me...hourly is double.



Earned +$356 playing 1/2nl on 5hrs 23mins today.
Also sat across from this chip stack.
I knew one thing...if this Frank Lloyd Wright wanna be is All-in; THEN HE HAS IT! Doubt if he is ever bluffing w London's Bridge.

^

Legit chip stacking skills. Sitting on a nice stack too. It would be funny if he got in a deep cooler situation and had to start taking it apart to bet.

Diamond Card sweat as we are getting closer.



Currently in HSI poker room table 11/seat2:
Bought in for $400, and currently down $6 in this 1/2nl game after a couple hours. Not too bad considering I was down $200 a hour ago. I had a pretty bad run out on my 2 black Kings when it came 2 hearts otf, then heart turn, heart river. He checked river, and I thought about rep betting the heart, but checked instead. He won a decent pot w his one card flush.
An orbit later had Kings again and 3 bet the $10 straddle to $68 w 2 players calling. I shoved $160 on the brick flop, and 2 folds. Then went on and won couple more small ones, and now back to where I started w $400ish.

...Then just in...called the $7 raise in 4 way best position, then bluffed my pocket 2s on a AJ4 after checked to me. Now Up $20ish .
3 hands later....shortie straddles $10 w $80 behind, I raise $40 w JJ, he shoves, I call. Only one over w Q hi board, and JJ holds. Up $100ish.

Only gonna grind a few hours today, tennis match at 6:30p. It will be my 2nd match of the day. Had an early morning match w a college player, then went to poker room slightly stinky w only deodorizing in my car, and changing clothes. Trying to prepare for these tennis club championships coming up next month.

June stats will be posted this week.

You should definitely post that bridge-stack in the Chipstack thread over in the live poker forum!

Just to give you a heads up. Richard and Len both have top 30 stacks in the Wsop 25K Plo.

Those two guys are beasts at PLO.

How much money are you getting with those reward system?
regards

what app is that you are using?

thanks

That bridge stack is nuts.

Ray, do you play different according to your levels?

I find that at 1/2 playing solid, if not unspectacular poker, with a few moves occasionally, and pushing your value hands is the key to success. Playing tricky tends to get me in a boatload of trouble.

I find that at 2/5+ trickiness, variation of play (flatting 3 or 4 bets with aces, 4 betting with junk etc) tends to work better. Playing straightforward tends to get me in trouble.

What do you think? Or is it just a matter of adjusting to each individual player at your table rather than the level of the table?

None, just perks.
Diamond allows u to move to top of the list on poker lists. Free food/beverages in Diamond Lounge. One free buffet for 2 each month. Free dinner to Binion's Steakhouse per year. $100 cash per year. This is everything I hear about pertaining to Diamond, not sure what else...never been.


Poker Journal


Yes. I agree w u.
No need to get too out of line playing 1/2nl or flip w AK. I just wait and get paid off. I'll make occasional moves here and there, but way more at the higher limits against higher level thinkers.

June Stats

Ended the last week of June running pretty good. I was even around the middle of the month, and then finally made a paycheck towards the end of the month..
Because my family had a vacation in June, I wasn't able to log too many hours this month..

No tourneys in June, so here is just cash game totals.



June Cash Graph



Current 2015 Cash Totals



Current 2015 Tourney Totals



Current 2015 Totals (cash and tourney combined)



Current 2015 Bankroll Pic



On pace for $48k and behind the $60k goal. U never know though, anything can happen in poker. I cd show up tomorrow and hit a $200k bbj, u just never know. I love this game and gonna give it my all.
Thanks for following this journey. Best of luck to all of us.

Nice work man. Keep it going!

^thanks @coolerJoe

This just in:

2/5/10+nl button in seat 6. Straddle $10 in seat 5.
Effective stacks $1500, villain (seat 9) covers.

Seat 6 and 7 call the straddles, seat 8 raises to $50, seat 9 quickly 3 bets to $140. It's folded to me in seat 4 looking at Alcoholics Anonymous. I decided to just flat the 3 bet w my Aces.
Seat 8, the initial raiser, calls the 3 bet as well.

3 to the flop. Pot $440.
Flop is 79A

Seat 8 checks, seat 9 bets $240, I call. Seat 8 tank folds.

Heads up. Pot $920.
Turn is Ace. Yes I just turned quads and Villain fires another $240. I tank for a bit, deciding my options. Eventually decided I wd raise small to $500 total. This leaves me w $350ish behind.

River is a 3

V check/calls my $350 all in.


Gd start to the Friday Game and the month of July!

Btw, @Benni19 I tipped $2 on that one.

Lol. As soon as I post the hand above, I get coolered!

I flop a set of 5s, and and get coolered by a higher set on the turn.
We get it all in on the turn and I lose $1k in the hand.

#sigh

Went from being up $1500 to being up $420.
Now I just hope to book a winning session.

This poker is an emotional roller coaster!

Lots of gd action during this July 4th weekend!
Here's another one from tonight's 2/5/10nl...

$10straddle in seat 9, and button in seat 1.

Seat 1 ($500) calls, seat 2 ($1k) calls, seat 3 ($2k) calls, I raise to $55 w AQ ($1800).
Folds to seat 1, and seats 1,2,3 all call.

4 to the flop. Pot is $230.
Flop is Q58. Seat 2 and 3 check, I bet $110.
Folded to seat 3 who calls.
*seat 3 is a nice middle aged gentleman who is a regular. All the staff loves him, and he's just all around gd guy. He is a tag player, and hardly ever loses. His vpip is on the low end, but can also mix it up some when he is involved in the hand. He has a solid all around game.

Heads up ott. Pot is $450.
Turn is 7, and seat 3 checks and I bet $210. Just trying to get some value here ott w the nuts. He calls. I feel he has a big hand, but not sure what. Mayb a set, or mayb smaller flush, or AQ. I think KQ is the bottom of his range here.
* I play a lot w seat 3 and we both play very similar styles. He perceives me as little on the tight side, but also knows I'm capable of making big bluffs.

Pot is $670 and the river is 6.
Seat 3 checks, and now I'm just thinking what I shd bet.
I love those river decisions where u have the best hand, and just need to think of a gd bet size. It's a great euphoric feeling. Do I go for thin value, or go big?

I have about $1400 behind, and seat 3 covers w $1600.
What u guys usually bet here?

If u care to chime in; then go for it. I'll let u know what I bet and if he called or not, and how my session ended up later tonight.

Pot looks wrong, should be $870? I'll assume stack sizes are still correct. I don't think a tighter older guy would raise a smaller bet on the river with a straight or smaller flush, so I would go for fat value and actually over bet ship all in. Let him figure it out if I'm bluffing with a dry ace of spades or actually have it.

I too think this is a spot where if he calls a bet on the river, he will call a big bet. I agree with the previous reply. I'd just shove. His range consists of a lot of smaller flushes or a set.

If he is as solid as you say. He will probably fold a set if you shove since the board is four to straight now and three to flush.

He will probably talk himself into calling a shove with a smaller flush.

Where you playin tonight?

@submerged u r correct... pot is $870 and river action on me.
@obiwanjacobi playing at HSI, and tons of action tonight. I just left to meet my family at the waterfront to see a band, fireworks, and drink a few beers.

I'll let this go for a bit longer, but will def fill u in on the conclusion of this hand before midnight.