Hey Guys,

I'm a 27 year old Aussie who has recently got back into poker after somewhat of a hiatus.

Quick poker backround:

I have been playing poker about 5-6 years, I started in 2012 playing SNGs, where I grinded a $10 deposit up to about 1k playing the $5 sngs on Stars.

Upon the realisation of how grindy and robotic they were I switched to cash.

I studied and worked hard on my game, starting at 2nl I made my way to being a decent 25nl reg, winning at around 8.5bb/100. This was around late 2013. I had just started to play 50nl when I decided to quit the job I had at the time, and start my own business.

Getting this off the ground took just about every spare minute of my time, and I had to make a lot of sacrifices. Poker was one of these.

I stopped playing completely by mid 2014.

Fast forward to now. My business is humming along, and after 2 years of working 6 days a week, I took a 10 week vacation where I backpacked around Europe. During this time I decided to play a little live poker.

I was definitely a little rusty, but it didn't take me long to get back into the swing of things.. My god live players are horrible.

This lit a little spark under me, and got me keen to play again. However, I have made a decision to play live though for now, for 2 reasons:

1. Games are insanely soft.

2. I don't have time to study and work on my game as much as I know i'd need to to return to online poker and do well. Realistically I probably have 12ish hours a week to sacrifice for poker. I'm certainly no Poker Prodigy, and when I was beating 25nl I had to work my ass off studying and reviewing hands. That was 2 years ago, I'm sure the games are even harder now. I just don't have that time up my sleeve... especially when I've seen how ridiculously soft live games are.

Honestly, the amount of money I'd personally make online compared to live, given how much free time I have to work on my game in insurmountable. Don't get me wrong, I love studying the game and discussing stratergy, and I know the ceiling is much higher online, but for someone who's priority isn't poker now, the live scene just makes more sense to me. But moving forward, maybe I'll get the online itch again, who knows...

Anyway, here's where I am so far:

I've played 65.5 hours so far, with a total of $2,304 won, giving me an hourly of $35.18. Far too few hours to gauge what my real win rate is, or if I even have a win rate at all.

Currently I play 1/3 with a $300 cap.

I have a pretty comfortable life roll, but I have decided to keep a separate little stash of my winnings so far for when I play, that if needed can be replenished.

BR: $1,500

glgl

Just finished a session.
Played badly for the first hour or so, value towned myself with TPGK in a $400 pot where I should have only lost $100 tops. Then made a couple of other bad plays and found myself stuck $400.

Managed to battle my way back over the next 4.5 hours to end the night +$15 though, so I was happy to get unstuck.

Session: 5h20m / +$15

Results so far:
Hours played: 70.5
Profit: $2,319
Hourly: $32.74
BR: $1,515

May or may not have another session over the weekend, depending on workload.
Gl all

gl definitely jot down some interesting hands

Decided to play the APPT deep stack today for something different. $400 buy in, 25k start with 30 minute levels. Field looks massive, Starting in 10 minutes.

in the money now. 60 left, I have 320k with 6/12k/1k blinds. 38k up top...

Busted in 31st for $1,030. Me and a mate swapped 25%, I also bought some dinner as well. Days profit = $430
BR: $1,950

Finished work around 9:30 tonight, got home and no one was around so I decided to go and play cards. Ran pretty decent tonight, but won most of my money in two hands that then lead to be being called and angle shooter by one player across the table (I also busted this player out of the tournament the day before in a big pot when he ran QQ into my KK, so maybe he was still bitter about that too).. Anyway the first hand in went like this...

Hero is OTB with KJo, c/o limps (He's tilted, he lost a stack about 15 minutes before running a x/rai bluff OTF against a guy with TPTK).. He seems very whale-ish from what I've seen so far.

I raise to $18, folds back around to him, he calls.

Flop is 8s 9d 2s.

Now I thought I saw villain check, so I went to c-bet $20 (in hindsight, not a great c-bet vs this opponent). We have an amateur dealer at the table, and his supervisor has being over-enforcing just about every hand to the point it's been ridiculous.

I'm then informed by the supervisor that villain has not checked, my bet it taken back, villain then goes to put $21 in the pot.. $15 falls out of his hand on the way, and the supervisor then calls it a string bet (Even though he had $21 in in hand and it was forward motion, it was literally 1 second apart) and informs me the bet is only $15.

Now I decided to peel for 2 reasons.. I had seen villain take this x/c pre, donk flop in just about every pot he'd played so far, and I had not seen him show up with a hand taking this line. Villain also looked frustrated by my accidental bet out of turn, so I also had a feeling perhaps he was betting just for the sake of betting now.

Anyway, turn is Jx

Villain checks, I check behind. I decided I was going to probably value bet the river.. I also figured if I check behind and under rep my hand, villain might spaz OTR

River pairs the 2, not bringing any flushes.

Villain insta shoves for $180. I tanked and couldn't think of a value hand where villain limp calls pre, donks flop, checks turn and jams river, apart from maybe some kind of 2x hand... Either way his line made no sense and I made the call... Villain flips up QJo and I scoop.

I then have hand in the next orbit where I have 98o in the BB and its limped around.. I check and we see a 9s 5s 5x board.

SB donks for $6 into about $25. I call, c/o calls (The guy who is about to accuse me of angling), everyone folds.

Turn is another 9x, SB checks, I'm shuffling a stack of chips figuring out my bet size, when c/o announces he checks... I look up at the dealer and say 'Wait, I haven't acted'.. The supervios then tells me that I have to be careful the way I play with my chips and people could confuse it for a check... I am literally shuffling my chips in the same fashion as 100% of people who shuffle stacks of chips.. I have never been accused playing out of turn, and I have also never been told my chip shuffling looks like a check, but this soup has now pulled me up on both within 1 orbit...

(She has also told a player if he doesn't thrown his deeper into the pot he'd be dealt out in the future, This player was in the 3 seat, and had thrown his chips out of reach of the rookie dealer on a couple of occasions.. I thought this was a bit harsh, it was certainly not deliberate)

Anyway the soup tells me I'm allowed to act, and I bet around $35... The c/o folds, and the SB calls.

River is inconsequential, Sb checks, I bet $100 with 9s full, SB calls and shows a 5... Thinking back now I probably should have jammed.. SB was pretty fishy and I think there was no way he's ever capable of folding 5x

Anyway c/o now starts accusing me of angle shooting.. This got me really worked up because being labeled as dishonest is a huge insult to me. I tell him he's better be really careful about making acquisitions like that because I wouldn't take them lighly.

I then ask him how could I think angle shooting a check could possible benefit me OTT of of the 89o hand because I'm already full, of course I'm wanting to bet.. He just shrugs his shoulders and doesn't respond.

Anyway this put me on tilt a bit for about 15 minutes, I then decide to go for a walk to the toilet and just have a bit of a walk to cool off. I return to the table and villain has now left.

I have played with villain on about 3 or 4 occasions, it's a shame that he's now created some history between us.

Anyway, those are the highlights of the session... I know the KJ hand was not played optimally on OTF, but I was happy with my river call.

I finished the sesison +$495

Results so far:
October Hours Played (Cash): 9.15
October Cash Profit: $804
October Tournament profit: $630
October Total: $1,434

Running results
Total hours played: 72.45
Hourly: $38.68
Total Cash Profit: $2,814
Total Tournement Profit: $630

Current BR: $2,500

Played a session tonight and ran colder than a polar bears toenails.
Made one lay down I was really happy about.

I'm in sb with 64s, 4 limpers and I complete.

Flop:
5c 7c 8d, no flush draw for me.
I bet $20 into about $15

I get called in 3 spots.

Turn is 7h
I bet $50, HJ calls, then button raises to $180

I fold, HJ calls and button flips up 88, HJ had 7x, button holds

The hand where I lost all my money was a cooler... I think?

UTG opens to $15, I call in UTG+1 with AQo, button calls

Flop is Ah Qh 3x ($50)
UTG leads for $15, I raise to $40, button calls, then UTG 3 bets to $80. I move in for $230 total, button folds, UTG calls and shows AA, having me drawing virtually dead

I left after that hand, I just knew it was going to be one of those sessions..

Time played: 1.5 hrs
Session summary: -$493

Gl errrrrrbory

I hope this thread last, in which country are u playing?

Thanks mate, I'm from Melbourne Australia

you play at crown I assume? what's the rake situation like?

Yeah I play at Crown. I play 1/3 with a $300 cap. There's a $5 seating charge you pay every time you sit at a new table, then the rake is 10% capped at $15. Standard opens in this game are around $16-$20.

Played 2x 3 hour sessions this week.. I've learned a lot about some of my own leaks and things I definitely need to improve on. I've generally been running pretty bad, (except for one hand tonight) but in those losing sessions you definitely learn a lot about some areas that need work.

Session 19/10
Time played: 3 hours
Profit: -$538

A lot of folding flop and turns this session, I was stuck about $150 already before this hand. I think I made some poor bet sizing choices, even though the money went in OTF, I think I didn't play great.

UTG+1 opens to $13, HJ calls (covers) , CO calls (~$250), BTN calls (~$220), SB folds, I'm in BB with AA and 3! to $45... I get called by all villains (lol)

Hero has about $260 behind

Flop is Kx 8s 6s (~$180)

I move in for $260... Looking back I think maybe I should bet $100 and shove turn?

As played I get called by HJ and BTN, so action is complete.

Turn is the Qs and, river is a brick, BTN flips over ATss to scoop the pot with the nuts.


Session 20/10
Time played: 3 hours
Profit: +$115

I was stuck about $200 before this hand...

1 limp in ep ($120), folds to hero in c/o with ATo ($300), I raise to $18, BTN calls ($275), ep calls

Flop Tx 3s 5s ($55)

Player in EP donk shoves or about $65, I instantly put him on a FD, and am never worried about being behind.

I stupidly shove behind him for around $260... This is pretty stupid looking back, it doesn't really achieve a whole lot and I have no room to maneuver now with BTN still to act behind.

BTN snaps me all in, turn is a blank, river is another T, button flips up QQ and player in ep mucks announcing he had a FD... Even though I won the pot I was disappointed in how I played that hand.. It was a good reminder that I still have a lot to learn and I'm definitely still readjusting to the live arena.

I played for another 45 mins or so after this hand, I had one interesting hand that I'll post in LLSNL for feedback as I think I may have misplayed it.

Anyway, month so far hasn't been great volume or profit wise.
Hours: 16.35
Profit: -$116

I'm actually +$514 for the month because of my tournament cash, but I'm more focused on cash results right now.

GL all!

Okay, played 2 sessions this week..

22/10
Played okay, but ran horrible.. No really memorable spots. Most of my losses came from tripple barreling AK on AxxxJ.. I bet the river for value and villain had caught a second pair with AJ.. Apart from that just a whole lot of missing and a lack of good spots.
Hours: 4.25
Profit: -$291

28/10
Finished work late, around 1am and was wide awake. I live 5 minutes from the casino so I figured I'd play for an hour or two.. My table was really passive and I spent the first hour opening a lot of pots and taking them down with c-bet or double barrels. Most of my money came from this hand, which I'm unsure if my flop play is good or bad...

UTG(~$275) open to $15, hero calls (Covers both villians) in MP with 55, c/o calls ($~350).

Flop:
3 4 5

UTG leads for $30, whilst I'm thinking c/o announces a raise to $70, the dealer states he's out of turn.. I figure his raise stands so I'll just call the $30 now and see what UTG does... c/o raises to $70

UTG flats... I think for a bit and shove.. Is this bad? Am I better off flatting and let a card roll off, and try and get both their stacks OTT?

As played I shoved otf, c/o (the flop raiser) folds, UTG calls and has KK and I hold and ship a ~$650 pot

My other large hand came when I flop TT on T72r and some guy decided to shove over the top of a c-bet (v1) and a call (me) of $25 for ~$175.. Villain flips up 78o, I hold... Poker is dead right?

Hours: 3.00
Profit: $1,070

Here is some chip porn from that session:


Here are my results so far:






May or may not play over the weekend, I have a fair bit of work on, so I'll see how I go.

GL all

Planning on grinding at Crown next year as well. GL with it all and I'll be following closely.