800 not that bad keep your head up everyone runnings bad

PLO>NL
But it haz the Swongs.

After much thought, I am gonna wait to get the roll up to around $40k before I head west.

Why u say? Is it because the players are worse, and more dead money?
I haven't played a lot of PLO, but I have always thought of nl as a more skill game. It's kind of been the reason why I stick w it, and feel my edge is bigger. Am I wrong? Many wd say nl is a solved game, but I tend to disagree.
Why should I play more PLO & what are 3 key tips to crush in PLO?
For me, PLO seems to be the power of the draw, and to mostly play hands pre that have nut opportunities. Where it gets tricky for me is when I overvalue certain hands, and pay off when I don't have the nuts.

April Stats

Started off soaring, and ended w a face plant.





CURRENT BANKROLL PIC

+$33,264 Overall. (+$33,689 in cash, -$425 in tournaments)

Now on pace for $49,896 and well below the 6 stacks of high society goal for 2015.



No 2015 goals were completed in the month of August. They remain the same.

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. (*Diamond card achieve in July).
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. +$2,709 on July 10 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.

#FULLTRANSPARENCY. I will keep everything I earn in the form of poker chips. At the end of every month I will post pictures of my monthly stats, monthly graphs, and a picture of running total earned with poker chips. For example, if I'm up a total of $15k at the end of April; then I will post a pic of $15,000 in poker chips.

Q). If I'm keeping my poker earnings, then how will I pay for living expenses?
A). I clear about $2k/ a month from my rentals, and plan to use that money to pay my bills, entertainment, and also use for other expenses. If I need to dip into my savings for living expenses I will, BUT ALL THE MONEY I make from poker (in 2015) will b kept separate in my safety deposit box. For this challenge, I have acquired a safety deposit box at my bank where ALL my poker earnings will be kept in the FORM OF POKER CHIPS. I will color up along the way. Hopefully at the end of the year, I will have at least 12 gray beauties in my box (gray is a HSI poker chip worth $5k).
I will also keep poker chips from other surrounding casinos within 5hr drive. *Poker earnings from casinos outside a 5hr drive will be cashed out, and that money will also be put in the safety deposit box. It will all be transparent along the way, and I will keep everyone informed throughout 2015.

I take pride that all my stats/data in this thread have been very precise and accurate. Thus, I will continue to be ultra-precise in 2015, and continue to provide as much proof/transparency as possible along the way. Pictures and occasional videos will further help the authenticity of this thread.

Thanks in advance for following, and keeping me motivated to achieving these goals. 2015 will be a year of great determination, and I look forward to facing these new challenges. No matter how bad it gets, I promise to give every ounce of fiber in my mind, body, and soul to not give up. I'm going hard this year, focusing at the task at hand, and leaving nothing behind in accomplishing these goals.

@RayzRayl

There is way more money to be made in PLO than Nl. Although most of the PLO players I would say are some of the better poker players in the room they haven't necessarily transitioned well from Nl. When I first started playing PLO is was super nit very rarely raising pre unless is getting my stack in with AAxx, I wanted to see as many flops as possible to see tendencies and what wins pots. As I got more comfortable I realized there are so many bluffing opportunities in PLO. Because a lot of player will only nut peddle. Typically PLO is way more swingy, although it is at 1/2 it doesn't have to be ,my winrate isn't to much lower than yours.

My 3 tips for someone learning PLO
Don't overvalue AA
Pay attention to hand structure (all four cards working together)
although it's ok to bet w/ less than nuts, I'd be very cautious on the calling side unless you have player specific reads

3 tips for PLO:

1. position
2. position
3. position

I cant emphasize this enough. IMO, position plays bigger in PLO than NL.

I found this video to be pretty representative of how live $5 PLO plays. Keep in mind they're playing at a short table (I think it starts with 7) whereas you'll often be at a 9 or 10 handed table. The extra players don't tighten up the game, they loosen up the game with 5-7 players seeing the flop for a raise or a 3-bet.

Here's what you'll see:
Too much terrible hands pre.
Completely dominated draws getting it in post.
Positional takedowns.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3Gf66xUzoM

PLO at HSI is incredibly profitable. Its almost all I play now.

Decide if you limp or raise most of your range. Good arguments have been made for both. I think is very dependant on table dynamics. Some players raise only with AA. This is very exploitable.

Learn the structures of rundown hands. Understand why JT97 is much stronger than J987. You can quickly learn how the location of the gap(s) affects your number of outs and nut outs on different flops.

Only draw to the nuts multiway.

I feel like a couple times per session you can stack off on the flop on a free roll or on a dominating draw.

I recommend reading. "Pot Limit Omaha Poker. The Big Play Strategy" by Jeff Hwang.

Hey
Ray,
Which one is more a game of Skill IDK, Its apples and oranges and I dont care, Just ship me the most manies.

I find that PLO plays bigger and our edge is bigger. In General these days most people have a pretty good idea how to play NL, Obviously we still have an edge, but not like back in the day. Sure you have donkeys giving it away. But how many times do you have people playing the biggest game in the room that dont know how to make a flush? I see it quite often in PLO.

PLO is just harder to figure out how to play well, as there just isnt as much info out there, and small mistakes quickly become huge ones. Even after i found the right info to study (Hwang) , I found it still took PLO experience to go from competent to good. Rec players out there are never going to figure it out or have to balls to apply it.

In most NL games we usually have at least few other Solid players in the game, In PLO I have rarely sat in a game with another solid player, even if they are decent and can win they usually the have huge leaks.

Take a look at your Goals 7, 8 and 9.
IMO, playing PLO they wouldn't be goals they would be givens.

You obv do well where you are so I understand not upsetting the cart, but there could be some opportunities.

But thats my 2 cents.

subbed(and first post lol)

@txjeff welcome to the thread. Honored to be your first. Best of luck to you!

Sorry I haven't chimed in a few days, been busy trying to get my rental unit cleaned up.
Like I mentioned a week or two ago, I wouldn't be able to grind much the first couple of weeks in September. I had a long term tenant give me a notice last month that he would be moving out at the end of August. Well he did move out of The Melody, and his place needs some serious work and attention.
He has been in there every since I bought the property a few years back, and he decided to move w his band mates into a bigger house together. I hate to see him go, he was a gd dude, but I am exciting to finally give unit#2 the cosmetic love it deserves.

This is the only unit that I haven't got the chance to update/remodel because it's never been vacant. Now that Pete Townsend finally gave his last curtain call, I now get the chance to make some much needed enhancements to that unit. I.e. painting, new carpet, new vanity, kitchen flooring, bathroom flooring and serious cleaning.
I will be putting around $1300 into this unit along w a couple weeks of my time. After it's done I will be upping the rent from $450 to $520, and increasing the value and appearance of the property. Even though, I putting a nice chunk of cash in the remodel, I will see it back in the long term.
This rental is my only guarantee income, so it's imperative I get this done asap. The sooner I get it done, the sooner I get a tenant in there to fill the vacancy. Each day that it goes by sitting vacant I'm losing $17/day.

After I tackle this small project in unit 2, I will b ready to get back to the felt. This break couldn't have came at a better time. Honestly, I have been getting a little burned out from the pokerz, so this time off should be beneficial to my game. I am hoping to come back refreshed, rejuvenated, and refocused...oh, and mayb give that PLO a try.

Thanks for the PLO tips, and appreciate the ongoing encouragement u all provide.
Best of luck to all.

Inground Pool Turorial vid.
http://youtu.be/iH3Mb1O6q-4
Starts w cutting down a tree, to marking the pool spot in the yard, digging the hole, setting in the pool frame, laying the grounding grid and pipes, putting in the liner, pouring the concrete, adding the water, putting down the sod, and finally jumping in pool.

The pool made a huuuge dent to the poker roll, which set me back some; but no worries, I will build it back through hard work and determination.

"Some people dream of success, while others wake up and work hard at it."

Can you take some before and after photos of the DIY stuff?

^ Sure can @skillz_2106.
It's been a lot of cosmetic changes, and nothing structurally so far.
I've been at it everyday since Sept 1st with one day off (yesterday). Gonna work a half day today, then sm family coming over for a grill out/swim.
I just left Home Depot w some apartment supplies, and every time i push out one of those flat bed carts my manhood raises a couple bars.
On the way to The Melody to get some work done.
Today:
-one more coat of paint
-the sticky icky tiles in kitchen
-hang up new blinds

New carpet should be here towards the end of next week from Mohammed, a poker player I play with regularly. A gd guy who gives me a gd hook up on carpet.
The poker room is a great place to network!

Happy Labor Day...i will be working . Trying to get this done so I can get back to shuffling chips, and mashing buttons.

Ray,
I just created a 2+2 account just so I could post to your forum. I've been reading your blog from the beginning for the past several weeks, caught up through the start of August, and it has motivated me to get back on the horse and play some poker again. During the boom I played a lot of local tournaments and had a really solid amateur game, but stuck to fairly low limits.

I've learned from your posts that I never really did any kind of bankroll management. I can remember sitting down at 10/20 limit games with like $400, if I lost I'd have to save up spare money and try again in a month or so. Lived in Texas at the time so couldn't hit casinos often, so wasn't that big of a deal. My point is I'd frown on $1/$2 NL and anything less than $5/$10 limit as it didn't involve enough risk to really bring out the skill in players. I realize now that my bankroll never did (and still doesn't) support anything above $1/$2 NL.

I've been gearing up for the past few months to start playing again, and someone had linked your blog in reddit.com/r/poker which is how I found it. It has been a really fun read and I feel as though you, myself and all your readers have grown through your adventure.

I'm glad to say that today I woke up and decided it was time to hit the felt. Drove 2 hours to a casino I've been to before and pulled $1k out of the bank to start a bankroll. Played a $100+5 tournament (I was always better at tournament play than cash games) and was playing really well considering I showed up an hour after it started and missed the first 3 levels.

Was heading in to the break about to start level 9 when I got a descent hand. QQ in mid position, short stack under the game and the V, an extremely LAG player, to my right. I had position on the V and have been watching him show massive bluffs all tournament, no fear, half his chip stack on rags. As we are on the last hand before the break, short stack goes all-in, followed by the LAG V, then me. Everyone else folds, short stack has KdJd, V has AsQs, me with QxQx. Things are looking good, about to jump to about 40+ big blinds going in to level 9, when the spade hits the river and completes his flush. 2 hours down, $105 down.

From there I go play some $1/$2 limit, just trying to play straight up and get myself accustomed to playing textbook poker again. Nothing fancy, no big moves, just grinding it out. 6 hours later, I'm up $185, played 8 hours of poker, and walked away up $80. Only one hand that I really lost out on, and I had 6c7c and limped in for $2. Board comes 5c8c + rag, I've got to go with it, bet $10. Two callers, another rag on turn. Bet $10, got raised to $50, called that extra $40 hoping to hit my straight or my flush or even the straight flush for a high hand bonus. Not so much, biggest hit of the night, only like $75 or so all said and done.

Thanks for this very informative forum Ray, I really hope you keep it going. It really does help motivate people like me, and I know I've learned quite a bit just from reading it.

Cheers! Jason (Decy, pronounced D sigh)

Awesome that Ray has motivated you too, I know he has motivated myself too and many others!

Just a side note (my own two cents), it's great that you've devoted $1000 towards a poker only bankroll, but to stay within that bankroll you should stay away from the $100+ tournaments. While the fields aren't that tough, the variance is super high, and you have less than 10 buy-ins, professionals would have a tough time with mtts on that bankroll. Plus of the $105, a good chunk goes to rake, so they are very difficult to make a profit on.

IMO, stick to cash games. In reference to the 67c hand, I would be more aggressive on the flop. You only have 7 high, but you are a favorite against most hands, and you don't really want to have to call off your money on the turn — if you are going to call anyways, raise!!

GLGL

@decy thanks for the nice words, and wish u some run gd on your re entry back into the poker world. Poker is a sick life, so stay even keel and try not to get too high or low. Maintain a gd life balance and stay within the the roll.
I always like to have around 40buy in roll for the games I'm playing, so w $1k/10 buy ins u cant afford not to play your "A" game, and must have some run gd. Its possible to run it up though, so play smart, don't tilt, and stay focused. U got this!
* I agree w everything @tswpoker1 had to say.
In closing, trust me when I say to everyone that I get more motivation and inspiration from u guys than u do from me. I appreciate all the "thank yous", but what u all do for me can't ever be repaid. It truly means a lot to me, and one day I will get to the top. For now, I'm just going to stay the course, and keep grinding at my own pace. Slowly, but surely, I know whole heartedly I will get there.
Thanks again @decy. Remember life > poker. Hope u run gd in both!!

Today:
I wish I cd tell u I felted 4 players, covered all players at the table, and crushed for a g, BUT the only thing I covered today were the bathroom walls at unit 2 w tan paint.
Also, did a lot of caulking, replaced a bathroom window, put shelf coverings in the kitchen cabinets, and took another trip to the Depot. *Another flat bed cart out the door to boost up the manhood.
Bought an exterior door, and a few knobs to replace a few that r missing from the cabinets, gfi plug, quarter round.

Tomo:
New Toilet going in, new ext door in, 2" faux wood blinds installed on the windows, and second coat of paint in the bathroom.

Thurs/Fri:
New carpet throughout the unit, paint outside trim on windows, sticky icky tiles in the bathroom, and one final walk through.
Then showing to 3 possible tenants, and hopefully getting lease signed and 1st month rent and sec dep collected.

Eager to get back to my other job.

God Bless,
@rayzrayl

Just read the whole thing... By just read I mean took two or three weeks to read. I'm a bit disappointed that I'll actually have to wait for updates now instead of just going to read more old stuff.

Great thread and quality play. I love your philosophies on life, poker, and family. Congrats on winning the life game so far. I'm from Indy, but if I ever get down to HSI I'll be sure to say hey.

Keep running good!

As u read on this forum a few weeks ago I played w the ex-husband of the missing mother of 5, Crystal. His story really pulled on my heart strings, and since then I have continued to pray for answers in Crystal's disappearance.
Honestly, I feel what drew me to this story was the man I played poker with that day. I sympathized for his situation and he came across like a real stand up guy. This nice fella who shared his ex-wife's story w complete strangers at the table had to b tough for him, but perhaps it may hv have been therapeutic as well. All I know is, I can't even imagine what him and the children are going through. #Unreal
Since then, this story as gained exposure which in turn has put more pressure on the investigation. I am happy to report just a couple days ago they have suspended the brother of the boyfriend until further notice. Maybe this can be one step closer to finding Crystal.

http://www.lex18.com/clip/11835088/b...icer-suspended


After 2 weeks of 8hr days, I am finally finished updating this unit today. Now this makes all units of The Melody remodeled and updated to my liking.
Unit 2 was the last one to get the "Rayz touch" and now it's time to raise the rent and get max value from this one.
After 4 showings, I feel gd in my selection. This fine fellow will be moving in Tuesday and paying $530/month w a $530 sec dep. His first month will be prorated at $265.
Here are the pics u requested @Skillz_2106


















^thanks buddy, and apologize for all the grammar cringes along the way. I don't have time to proofread a lot of what I write, and even if I did I may still get it wrong. .
Poker is my passion, but it's not the end all be all. I know where my priorities lie, and it's important I stay true to what's most important in my life. God and family before everything else. Keeping this central in my life makes the rest easier for me.
I wish u the best of luck in life and in the pokerz.

__________________________________________________ ____________


After a 2 week hiatus from the tables, it's now time to do poker work. The mission is to ease my way back in, play solid, and gear up for this WSOP coming to HSI in 2 weeks.

I feel rejuvenated, and focused to make a deep run. #karatekid
*The reason I sometimes hashtag KarateKid is because I like his perseverance, his fight, his willingness to get better, his dedication, his passion, his no quit attitude, his belief in himself, unwillingness to fold, and most importantly his heart.

U Don't think your a favorite with one card to come....he would have to reraise and commit, so the math has to be right...but the turn, it's probably a fold unless you can make the math work with implied odds.

Edit. Just realized you said on the flop. I think he led out and just got called. I sometimes will go for a check raise when I flop a monster draw. If it gets checked around that is ok...

Sent from my VS985 4G using 2+2 Forums

Something shady in Bardstown. I realize these are two totally separate incidents, but the missing mother her boyfriend's brother a cop who has been suspended and then a couple years ago that cop got ambushed and killed and still no one caught. Somebody who knew the officer put branches in the road knowing he would get out and move them. At that point he, was, shot and killed. Maybe it, was another cop? I don't know. I'll take off my tinfoil hat now. All the best to you Ray.

Nice job rayz!

Thanks tswpoker. I love tourney play, but you are right with $100 buy-in being the lowest available, I should probably avoid it. Perhaps once I double my bankroll I can try it. Had my second session yesterday, just cash $1/$3 NL (only game available, everything else higher). Up another $141 after 3.5 hours. Not too shabby. One thing I'm starting to notice is I'm a bit shy playing my low to mid pocket pairs. I folded pocket 5 yesterday to a $20 raise, would have crushed on that hand.

Get yo popcorn ready
Another lame vid.
http://youtu.be/_or6quLbERI
Enjoy

thanks for sharing the vlog!
these are great!
good luck at the felt this week!