yeah he'd have to have exactly like... A2cc, A5cc, AKcc, AQcc, AJcc and he might even check back AKcc otr lol

Soooo... unfortunately as you can imagine..both of the above trips have been postponed due to corona.

Luckily, the next run it up Reno is happening later this year.. so I’ll be doing 3 nights in Vegas and 3 nights in Reno during the first week of November. I think even in my worst nightmares the country should be “opened up” by then.

Euro 2020 has been moved to the summer of 2021. My match tickets are still valid for next year, but that trip will have to wait. Eyeing Aruba for July-aug but we’ll see!

Puppy

So... the one benefit or working from home over the past month ( and likely 1-2 more ) has been spending time with my beautiful girl. We got her just over a month ago now. She’s 13 weeks and in the prime of her puppy biting phase, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.










Hope all is well everyone! See you back on the felt soon


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When the Wild Wind Blows

What a time to be alive. It reminds me of the sentiment portrayed in the song above by Iron Maiden. Usually not the biggest fan of them, but the storytelling of this song is dope.


Poker
Being in one of the hardest hit areas of the country, I know live poker would not be an option for most, if not all the year. I took the time to take on PLO online. I’ve been grinding/learning the 100PLO streets on iggy. It’s been a humbling experience to sort of “start from scratch” but I’m happy learning again and putting in the time required.

I did cave however, and drove ~3 hours to play a PLO session at BBCC in New Hampshire, the closest open place for me currently. I must be spoiled because when I pulled into what was essentially a gym plaza, I thought, lolwat? I played an hour of 1/3 NL while waiting for a 1/3 PLO seat. With the button straddle, both games were essentially 1/3/5.





Oh. And 6 handed. An online to live players dream. I feel pretty rusty at no limit, but luckily just got dealt trash for the one hour so I could just hit fold. Both games I played in were absolutely phenomenal. One of the 2-3 hands I actually VPIP’d:

UTG straddles, and it folds to the button who limps. We make it 35 from SB with K J . The straddle, and button both call.

Flop ($105) K 5 3 We continue for $25. Straddle calls, BTN folds.

Turn ($155) T We bet $45. Straddle calls.

River (245) 5 we check planning to call. V insta bets $100, we snap and v shows 6 6 .

Moved over to PLO, and overall not too upset with how I played. I need to figure out correct adjustments for PLO (similar to NLH) when every pot is 4-5 handed post flop. Online it’s a bit different in the 6 max games.

Was stuck $1k after a few poorly played hands/ not so favorable runouts & borderline sketchy preflop hand selection. Looks like my tilt control is not at levels it needs to be at. Ended up clawing back to a break even PLO session after 3.5 hours, and small win at NLH.

I don’t think the PLO hands were all that interesting. Had to fold AAxx on the flop 3 times after bet/raises on middling/ k high boards. It was one of those games you needed to wait for the nuts and bet for value.




Life

Since corona derailed all of our travel plans, decided to put some of those travel $$ to use on the house. Built a floating deck in the backyard with my father!







Ended up coming out pretty sweet. Got some furniture & even a projector set up for some fun nights





Puppy

Tokyo has grown so much in our now 5 months with her. Fiancée & I are both still working from home so she’s been loving life (I think/hope). Now 7 months old!







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cute doggo!

Nice to hear from ya mate! Handsome dog.

+1.

Good luck man!

thanks bro! Hope all is well missing Vegas right now

Haha appreciate it man! How are things?? Need you back in the PGC streets

Thanks RTP. Following your journey as well - BOL to you and hope we can return to some semblance of normal in the live poker streets

Soon my friend, very soon! Just waiting for the WSOP to wrap up!

telly meale

Telly will we ever get to play live together? Nice to see an update and glad all is well

hey cutie <3

let’s gooooo. Hope you did better than my mean estimate of 1288 hours 😆

It is my life mission to make this happen. I will continue you let you know any time I'm in PA hahah. At this point may have to be beers, poker, beers, beers in that order

Yo Telly is a Lions Fan!!! How you feeling about the Lions chances this season? You sipping some of that Honolulu Blue Koolaid like most of us Lions fans


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Haha even though it’s been a sad existence, I have the same feeling of hope that I’ve been feeling for the last ~10 years. It’s a high hopes, low expectations type thing.

Realistically, with this offense (with staff) I really think we should contend for a playoff spot. Obviously I’m aware of what we become without him. Big ?? As always is the defense. If they can hold their weight, i’m excited

Just landed from a 6 day trip to Vegas.

A lot of Poker was played. Things are weird. Still was a great time. Won some $$. Now if we can fade corona then we can consider it a victory. Only time will tell. Will do a 3 or 4 part write up this week.

Las Vegas - Days 1 & 2




Touched down at LAS on Sunday at 9:30 local time. With no time to waste, all there was left to do was check into Bellagio, and hit the poker room as soon as possible. ****. Forgot to eat though, so we hit noodles really quick, ate and hit the felt. Forced myself to play a classic Vegas session - so tired but the excitement won’t let you go to sleep.

Only let myself play for 2 hours, knowing I needed atleast some sleep to be able to function for the rest of the trip. Unfortunately our name never ended up getting called for 2/5 (maybe it did - May have missed it) and played our only 1/3 session of the trip, for the biggest loss too. Down 600 after two hours. Nothing mind blowingly noteworthy - slightly rusty + getting it in bad out of excitement (maybe). Even a quick 200bb loss couldn’t wipe the grin off my face.


Woke up early the next morning around 7:00 looking for some food. ****. Really wish I was less excited cause what in the world is open in Vegas at 7:00 AM?




So after planning to go to bed at a somewhat reasonable time to get some rest, we sleep a solid 4 hours due to waking up early. Found a coffee at Starbucks, and hit the pool for a large chill. After that, messed around a bit on the strip before catching an Uber to the dispensary, and purchased the product that really got me ready for the trip. Loaded on up beer, ate lunch and it was quickly past noon. Got in a three hour 1/2/5 PLO session at Aria to get us back to even on the trip. While there, played two hands of note.




Got the ball rolling early on, when we open A K Q 8 in EP 7 handed.

We open to 15 and get a call behind, and BB call.

Flop (45) comes J T 5 .

BB checks, we continue for 30, one fold, and the BB calls.

Turn (105) is the beautiful Q

Check, we wager 80, and v has ~200 behind. He quickly calls and we get a nice, safe,

River (260) 3

We stick the rest in and after a little bit of thought we get the call, and take it down. We build the stack up to about ~1200 before we make the worst (best) fold ever.

We pick up Q Q 6 4 in the CO and make it 20 to go after one limp in EP. BTN (NIT) makes it 60 to go, and we go heads up to:

Flop: (130) K Q 3.

We check, v pots, we call (bad??) I think so

Turn: (390) 8 and we just c/fold. I truly feel like we’re in a bad spot vs bit but look at our hand. IDK plo experts plz help.




Shortly after, we head out to a quick dinner at Ocean One (if you’re on a budget and don’t know this spot - you’re missing out). Smoked a quick j, chilled out, and got to the B poker room for some 2/5. Got a swingy 5 hour session of barely above breakeven that actually did get us just over even for the trip.


Alright alright. Just getting started.








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Nice update and pics man

good to hear that it was a great time

looking forward to the rest of it

Las Vegas - Day 3

Even after another late sleep time, my body decided once again to wake up at 7:00 despite 4 hours of sleep. Killed some time walking across the street to get some coffee and food. Hit the conservatory early on, and was pretty spectacular with no one there so early








Took one last lay at the pool before noon, the dreaded checkout.

Before Checked out of the Bellagio feeling slightly sad, but walked directly out the front doors and across the street to Paris.





Didn’t even bother unpacking before heading back to Aria to play some more PLO. Managed to put together a small profit during the three hour session where I don’t really play any interesting hands. Folded a lot, and bet the nuts a few times

Took a break to do some drinking, eating, walking around, etc before heading to Bellagio for a night session.






Got called for the 2/5 immediately and got right to it. Once again got into another fantastic game and managed to be stuck 300 early on without much effort. Played a few fun hands against some interesting players. There was one lady who loved betting 2x pot on a lot of flops, but couldn’t make a hand against her to punish it. Led to some hilarious hands being played between some of the others though.

Another fun player sits down to my right and doubles up almsot immediately. One orbit later, there are 3 limps including him, and we make it 30 to go with A T , and get two callers.

We go to a flop (95) of K Q 6 which checks to us. We check back and get the

Turn (95) J

Checks to us again and we bet 75. Villain above calls and

River (245) 2: heart:

One more check and we go 175. V tank calls and we are good. Rest of the session was supper swingy but ended up booking another small win.

Before the night was over, got two sports picks in for the next day at noon.






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Las Vegas - Day 4

For the first time all trip we were able to get some real sleep. First few days finally catching up with us.

Started the day off by trucking to check out the pool - but after having the Bellagio pool to compare to, it just was not the same. Did not end up staying but caught a cool angle of the Paris Eiffel Tower from the pool area




Took the early part of the day walking north on the strop towards Wynn/Encore to hang out there for a bit. There’s a sick coffee spot there that’s a bit expensive but love it.




Next stop was the watch the bets we placed last night at Caesars - stopping quickly to take a few pics on the way back





Ended up winning one of the two wagers, for an overall slight loss. But that brought us to 4:00, time for dinner at chef Gordon Ramsay’s Burger restaurant before our night session.



Feeling great, we head back to Bellagio and immediately are seated for 2/5. The game is absolutely amazing and within our first orbit some crazy hands are pooping off. About two hours into our session a young grinder looking player sits down and is anything but your average grinder. 100% bet frequency on every hand/street means we were in for a hell of a time.

Our first interaction with him comes when he makes it 25 to go from MP, and we call on the button with 4 4 Everyone folds and we go heads up to

Flop (50) Q 5 5 .

He leads for 40 and we call.

Turn (130) 3 :spades

V leads for 90 and we call again. In my head I immediately thing about our plan, which is tk call literally any non Q.

River (310) is the phenomenal Q . V bets 200, and we fold. Immediately he shows the 42o. We would have CHOPPED! I exclaim

Two orbits later we look down at A 3 in the SB, and are facing a raise to 20 from the same villain in HJ. We call, BB calls and we head three way to a

Flop (60) K 7 5 .

We are ~650 eff with both villains, and decide to check, followed by a BB check. v bets 25, we call, BB folds.

Turn (110) 8

We check planning to check raise and get our opportunity when v bets small, 30. We make it 150, and v eventually tank calls.

River (410) T

We jam for ~450 eff and after a long tank get the call. After this hand we are feeling great and on a roll.

We win a bunch of small pots after in quick succession - going into the good old live poker “god mode” before cashing out a ~1200 winner for a nice profit. Just over halfway through the trip, it really feels like we’re on a nice roll + the added bonus of having a great time.




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2021

Poker rooms in the northeast are starting to open up again. Got in my first session of the year over the past weekend. Still feels super weird with the plexiglass but it is what it is.

I played an interesting hand against a younger guy who I perceived to be a maniac. Stuck about a buy in having sat down three orbits ago and seemingly plying laggy but seemingly had a clue? Still not even sure. Anyways, hand: (7 handed tables)

EP limp, the maniac in the CO (800 eff) makes it 20 to go. We call OTB with 9 7 . BB calls, limper calls.

Flop: (80) A Q 6

checks to CO who bets 50. We call, others fold.

Turn: (180) J And CO bets 200, we call

River: (580) T CO jams ~530. We?

Other than that it felt pretty good to be back in the streets. Since march of last year I’ve basically only played PLO online. Felt a bit rusty to say the least. I need live PLO!

Getting AA AIPF vs presumably KK definitely helps though!




Last buy not least, Tokyo turned one on Sunday! Here’s a pic of her loving this weeks snow.

Ayee welcome back. Spending 6 weeks down in south Florida to get out of the NE cold weather and played my first 2 live sessions in a year also. Def weird with the masks / plexiglass but great to be back after a year of the online grind.

As for the hand, 97s prob a 3 bet or fold pre BTN v CO if playing “correct” but vs a live blaster we can do whatever lol.

River is a snap. Don’t nitroll the guy!

SNAP? **** me! Lol.

Nice! Are you able to work from down there as well? Yeah looks like you went at the right time.. late 2020 was pretty mild for us but it’s starting to get coooooold.

Lol we have third nut flush and this dude is a maniac, what am I missing

Yeah - only reason we were able to do it. Wanted to take advantage of working remotely while we could

That’s awesome. Sooo many people I know did this and I’m sooo jelly I haven’t been into the office since March either but have been too pussy to pull the trigger myself

As for hand... I know, and looking back you HAVE to be right, but this line seemed strong even for maniac.. we called with two behind on flop, called turn.
Seems like bluff would be suicidal?

Anyway... he claimed flush..... yeah we folded

highly recommend doing it if you can; has been awesome so far.

I mean, even if he isn't bluffing he has not that many combos that are ahead of you unless he opens every suited K; and we still beat plenty of his value. also does a Royal and/or nut flush really overbet turn?

but maybe he just had it that time and you made a good fold! we will certainly be beat some % of the time lol

The Tale of Two Sessions

Looking at sessions one a time can leave you feeling plenty of emotions. Pride, fulfillment, anger, disappointment, frustration. That’s why we always tell ourselves to zoom out and look at the greater picture. No time could this be more true than the last two sessions I played.

The first was any and all negative words & emotions that you can or can’t feel. At one point I think I counted 15 pots in a row where I was the preflop raiser where I lost in many ways. No need to bore anyone. We’ve all had these sessions where you feel that every decision you make seems like the wrong one.

This led to me for the first time in my live poker “career” that I did not reload after falling significantly below the max buy in. The dollar amount wasn’t even that insane, in fact myself, and plenty of others have come back from even bigger in-session swings. The reality is that I should have not been in the game at this point mentally. As a fun player who doesn’t get to play all the time, you don’t want to quit. But as a player playing to win, this is not a winning mental state.

For whatever reason, this session I was just unable able to get myself out of this rut. Like I said, it wasn’t even the dollar amount that I was stuck. Only stuck ~800 in the 2/5 game with 450 in chips I open A K to 20 from the HJ. Foods to the BB (fun player) makes it 100 and I call.

Flop: (200) A 8 5

the bb leads for 100 and we jam. He tank calls and rolls over A T

turn: 5 River: T to cap off a day where we seemingly could t get one thing going our way.

The next session was the absolute opposite. A few overpair &gt; overpairs, c betting correctly, and thin value bets being paid off totally changes everything. It seemed like nothing could go wrong. capped off finally by a hand that only needs one street. We raise MP A A to 20. Next to act makes it 80 to go. BB (fun player) cold calls and we 4 bet to 420. 3 bettor cold 5 bets all in for ~1200 eff. BB folds, we call and hold against KK. And at that exact moment you wonder why you were so upset/tilted/angry/frustrated playing poorly for so long the session earlier.

This imbalance just highlighted a few of the areas I need to improve. As a fun player I need to be able to focus and improve on the facets of my game that will bring the most I prime to with the least amount of time (most effective) at this point in time it’s the mental side easily.

—

Connecticut Gambling

It looks like Connecticut is on the path to legalizing online gambling. If this is the case and poker is included then I’ll definitely be spending a lot more time playing and refining my game online.

—

Pupper

Tokyo is now a year and a half old. She’s the best and it’s been an incredible experience already, with many more good times to come. I can’t believe the time has flown by.













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