my mann!! gl

Certainly if I were 100bb deep I'd just shove and 1500+ deep I'd call. I don't know why I thought 99 was a fold when I'd never think of folding TT to his 3bet. I think when I tilt I tend towards folding. I'm weird like that.

How you doin! welcome to the thread where I play bad and tell the world about it

I got in two spots where I think being "nice" to the fish cost me money in the actual hands but were OK decisions for the session EV.

Hand 1

EP and I are about 2300 deep. One relevant hand we played: BU straddle, he limped SB, BB call, EP call, I iso to $60 with KK, 4 calls. Flop Q64r. He leads $100, BB shoves $300, EP shoves $400, I shove his $700 and he tankcalls 35o and hits. He is a few beers in now and deeply suspicious of me moving to his left a couple orbits earlier. He's about 70/10

He raises UTG $20, I flat AJ, 2 other calls

Pot $80
J87

He bets $50, I call, rest fold

Pot $180
6

Before the card comes out he holds his hand out in that friendly "ready to showdown" way and says "I check." In my experience this is always like TT, JTs, maybe as strong as QQ. I think what I should have done was do the "haha well I think I gotta bet this but I'll make it cheap. $100 sir!" Instead I checked :-/

Pot $180
T

He does the friendly check again and I do the $100 thing. He calls J9s and I feel like an idiot.

In my head I was thinking I wanted to keep him at the table and happy (or not embarrassed). But wtf I'm a professional, just make the most $ possible amirite

Hand 2

Villain here is probably a serial killer. Every goddamn session we need two set up changes an hour because he bends cards and throws them at the dealer. One day, he was fed up with losing $3k in two hours and whenever he folded in seat 1 he put his cards next to me in seat 3 so the dealer had to stretch real hard for them. People don't say anything about his antics because he does **** like call 80bb shoves with 85s and go allin when checked to for no apparent reason. He's about 80/60 today and has $400

He isos $20, I make it $80 next with KK, he calls. I saw the J but don't say anything because I'm a flawed person but he's worse. He would shove JJ here 100% of the time.

Pot $175
665

He checks, I bet $75, he calls

Pot $325
3

He checks and says "go allin, we run it twice." I don't think he's angling here and I think would have shoved if I didn't see the Jack. I did something stupid and said OK let's do it and put out a stack of green I thought was more than $100 but my hand-eye coordination said otherwise. He snapcalls and check/folds a Q river with $130ish left.

So these weird live dynamics that I have 0 experience with are costing me some $. Good news is I'm learning on the job and making less mistakes than I did in June/July.

Bad news is a hurricane is ostensibly coming straight for me this weekend. Stay safe Florida friends!

Finally have both power and internet back. Only played 2 hands of interest the last four sessions and they were both against guys I'm sure are 2p2ers and don't want them to know that they are actually donks. So I'll be back to posting regularly soon!

Again - I make most of my mistakes in MW pots where I've like no experience.

This is my 2nd hand at the table. EP is a bad OWG who knows I'm never bluffing flop here. BU looks donkish. BB is fat, 30s, and wearing one of those stovetop hats.

EP $800, BU $400, BB $700

OWG limps EP, BU isos $25, I call SB AJ, BB calls, EP calls.

$100
J75
I check, BB leads $55, EP calls, BU calls, I raise $200, EP calls quick, BU tankcalls.

$755
6

EP would 100% shove a set here and his calling range is something like 98s,Kc9c,Qc9c,Tc9c,Kc8c,Qc8c,Tc8c,Kc7c,Tc7c,9c7c,8 c7c,Kc6c,9c6c,8c6c,7c6c which I'm 50% against so I should probably just shove. TBH I'm unsure if he calls without an OE/pair but that still leaves me with well north of 40% equity.

Turn checks around and I block bet $200 on a J river and get the BU to call allin with 99. But meh, turn really feels like a shove

6s is one of the best turn cards you can hope for, and the pot is gigantic.

Well, the end-of-the-month curse continues as I had to leave the casino 4 hours earlier than I wanted down $1850. Played 80 hours this month after missing 10 days thanks to Irma and finished up a few buyins. Two hands:

BU straddle. I raise BB to $35 AK, TAG 3bets to $100, I call. $1100 eff

Pot $215
AQ6
I check, He bets $220, I call

Pot $655
9
I check, He jams $785, I call

I got 40% if he does this with only AK, QQ, AA and I don't think he 3bets AQ pre. Bottom of my range call imo

Villain here is 70/20 and likes to bluff small pots and definitely thinks I'm tight. This is one of those obvious GTO calls and but obv correct exploitable folds. $700 eff

4 limps, I raise $35 KK in SB, 4 calls.

Pot $175
KJ3

I bet $125, he calls

Pot $425
Q

ck, ck

Pot $425
2
I check, he bets $225, I call,

So MP raises blind to $150 and announces that it's time to go home. He did this last hand with Q3o and won the blinds. He has $700 total

Equity Win Tie
MP2 61.46% 60.43% 1.02% KQo
MP3 38.54% 37.52% 1.02% random

Board runs out AT234 and I win vs the nut low. Not gonna complain about running bad for a while imo

Played a hand today that made me question everything I know about poker and insta-quit with a bad stomach ache. OK it was more the hot dog that made me sick but the hand didn't help

I overlimp 66, 5 ways

Pot $30
986

SB leads $15, BB raises $35, I call, SB calls.

Pot $145
2

ck, BB bets $55, I call, SB calls

Pot $310
A
ck, BB shoves $165, I fold, SB calls with 92 and wins vs 47o

BB just sat down, is a 60yo white guy, and acted super quick every street. Against a loose value range of 99-88,T7s,98s,86s,75s,Ah9h,T7o,98o,86o,75o it's barely a call. I need much closer to 20 than 25% to call bc SB has a lot of decent overcall hands. In my head I was just like welp this old dude is never bluffing and he has 32 combos of nuts so.....

Have to call river getting that price when everything misses imo. Also super quick acting is a weakness tell.

There's a guy I've played more hours with than any other. Meet Barry.

Barry is a Canadian-American born in Hong Kong, retired, and in his mid-70s. He complains about the long walk from the parking lot to the poker room. He's asked the floor if he could call in ahead for a wheelchair but no dice. He can't hear very well so he always takes seat one.

We're friendly. We talk about how beautiful Vancouver is, the ****ty traffic, the Italian food in the neighborhood. He appreciates when I offer to get him chips or find out today's specials.

When the game starts, he's silent. He doesn't understand why these young guys come in here and just watch movies or play on their tablets all day. I've never heard him gripe or celebrate about a hand before. Until today.

I know his game by now. Raises pre with TT+ and AK, limps A5o+, A2s+, JTo+, 22-99, 56s+, 86s+ and 3bets QQ+ and AK. Always folds a pair when the 3 flush comes. Never triples without a boat. Never bluffs. He's a winner. Maybe $15 an hour.

"Huh" he sighs. "Not again." The donk inevitably gets there with the SFD allin on the flop vs his top set. "I can't believe how I run. Nice job dealer. He was practically drawing dead on the flop! It's just not my month is it Dean." It's October 6th, and this is the third time he's lost a 100 big blind stack this week.

"Yeah nothing you can do there." I sympathize. "Bad luck."

"It's just unbelievable. You can just can't win against these guys. I made it $40 preflop! Nice play buddy."

He scowls and asks the waitress what the soup of the day is. "Conch chowder."

"You gotta be ****ing kidding me. No thanks." He's first to act next hand.

Barry limps UTG. Four to the flop. QQ7. Checks around. Turn 2. Checks around. River Q. He bets $40 into $20, gets a call from JJ in seat 4. "High hand" he says before casually flipping his KQ. There's 30 seconds left on the clock and the 2/4 limit OMC with Quads Queens Jack kicker won't get his $1000 pay day. Barry slides the four red chip tip to his right.

"Heh, that's the fourth one this week."

My making terrible plays in multi-way pots continues. 30/30 EP raises $20, I raise BU $70 AK, OMC (or so I thought) tanks for a minute and flats, EP flats.

EP has $750, OMC $300

Pot $215
KJ6
ck, ck, I bet $110, SB snap shoves, EP snap flats.

My flawed subconscious poker mind gave them something like:


Board: KcJs6s
Equity Win Tie
MP2 33.13% 32.90% 0.23% { AsQs, AsJs, AsTs, QsTs, As9s, Ts9s, As8s, Ts8s, 9s8s, As7s, 8s7s, As6s, As5s, As4s, As3s, As2s }
BU 21.78% 3.60% 18.18% { AcKs }
SB 45.09% 27.04% 18.06% { JJ, AKs, AsQs, AKo }

Preflop EP said something about how his hand was behind so I'd def eliminate AK and JJ. There were a lot of hands he'd played before that should have made me realize he would never flat a hand that beats me here. Anyway I folded. Here's the actual equities :-/

Equity Win Tie
MP2 24.03% 24.03% 0.00% QhTh
BU 67.66% 67.22% 0.44% AcKs
SB 8.31% 7.86% 0.44% AdJc

Annoying. I fold the best hand plenty though too. Fwiw I don't think the fold is terrible by any means.

Yesterday I made quite possibly the worst play of my live career. It was so bad that even the terrible reg next to me told me what I should've done.

I iso $30 KK, 3 callers, 700 eff

$120
643
ck, OMC leads $100, fold, I call, fold

$320
T
OMC snap leads $250

Now at this point my logic should have been: His range is 66, 44 and possibly 33. I should fold.

However my thought process was: I've been making horrific folds all week; I ain't gonna make another! And so it goes.

One day I'm gonna tell you all about my two trips to the so-called abyss. Mid-five figure downswings, prozac, Chinese psychiatrists, short-stacking. Whenever I'm in a small downswing I always think back to those moments and smile.

Far important than poker, a new Ethiopian place just opened down the street and it is the ****ing nuts. If you have one in your neighborhood, go visit it now.

Welp, I was bed-ridden for a week with a nasty flue so there goes another month with disappointing volume.

I started out winning nine straight sessions and ended losing 5/6 including 40 straight hours winning one pot over 75bb. The weird thing is, I probably played better in the 2nd half of the month than the first.

Rather than lose my customary $2k on the last day of the month, gonna hang out with the fam and watch baseball. Happy Halloween ya'll

Had my best live day ever by far on thursday... then proceeded to crush that amount on saturday. +$6.5k in 13 hours playing (almost) nothing but standard hands and holding up with 50-80% equity. There was one interesting one I'll get to in the end.

Hand 1

I overlimp/call with A6dd, c/c KT3dd and cr allin on 4d vs KdJd +900

Hand 2

I 3barrel QQ on KQ692 vs K9o +400

Hand 3

I 3b AA and he folds turn on KT62hhss +200

Hand 4

I call 99 and flop quads. +500 High hand

Hand 5

I call 88 and flop quads.... +1000 High hand

Hand 6

Get in AA v QQ shorty +300

Hand 7

I 3bet AKo 75 to 230 straddled pot and just shove for ~600 on KJTr +250

Hand 8

I raise KK, three calls. Two call $60 on T54ssh. I shove turn 6h one call. +500

Hand 9

I raise AA, shorty and drunk donk call. I check KJTr, shorty shoves $135, DD tankcalls, I shove for ~700, he calls with QJ, +900

Hand 10

Maniac raises $100 blind and claims he's calling any bet, donk flats, I shove QQ, maniac folds, donk calls, +800

And now for the interesting one....

Hand 11

CO is a mawg TAG, he doubled up by raising K9 and betcalled flop with a FD, ck ck turn when hit, and open jammed 2xpot river and won. He has $800

BU is 80/10 OWG who just tripled up with a pair+fd vs two sets. This is his first 3bet in 100 hands and has ~1500, I cover

I raise 33 UTG, TAG calls CO, BU 3bets to $40, we call

Pot $125
356

I check, CO check, BU bets $125, I call, CO tankcalls

I was planning on leading all non-club turns vs BU if CO folded and all paired turns if he didn't. I'm pretty confident CO had a tough spot and not a strong hand based on his pretty long timing and prev hands.

Pot $500
A

check, check, check

Def not a great card and I wouldn't put it past this guy to check da rockets. IME donks love betting AK with a club on the turn here but based on the PSB OTF it looks a lot like JJ-KK no club.

Pot $500
7

I bet $185

I think CO has lot of 88-JJ with a club and AT-AQ with a club. I don't think a $250-400 bet is better than this and checking is meh. Appreciate any feedback on this one

As I've said, what's most interesting to me are spots that I would have done something totally different online. Here's one:

I complete SB with 45 (table was good shadup), 5 way

Pot $25
45T
I lead $20, BU raises to $55, I call

This is a trickyish old guy who does a lot of raise/folding to see where he's at. He has about $350 after his raise and will always raise pre with TT here. His range is JT-AT with an occasional 67 and he'll always fold flop to a RR.

Pot $135
4

I check, He bets $100, I call.

Again, I don't see him calling a jam

Pot $335
4

I check, he checks

This was the mistake. This is always an open jam as he never bluffs the river but probably calls a shove 75% or more of the time. Folks, autopilot is bad for you

Not sure how he doesn't bet river tbh.

I just finished my last session of the year. Here's some thoughts on my first six months as a live pro.

1. People are way worse than I thought. Countless times I've seen regs whose game I respect(ed) make the most egregiously bad mistakes imaginable. Out of the hundreds of 2/5 guys I've played with I've narrowed down the number of good players to ~3

2. I am way better (and worse) than I thought. My strength and weaknesses as player have become quite clear to me. I very rarely make the same bad plays (ie exploitably folding too much when I *thought* it was correct) I did in the summer.

3. My satisfaction with a session is based on two things. One is how fun the table was. Sitting with a bunch of nits for eight hours staring at their phones and berating the dealer is soul-crushing. The other factor is how well I played.

4. The most important trait of a live pro is, by far, the ability to withstand variance. Whether it's just one session or months on end, take it like a man.

5. Sexism is a huge ****ing problem. I cannot remember the last time I had a session where someone at the table *didn't* make an awful, ****ty remark to a dealer/waitress. I'm still not sure what, if anything, to do about this.

I've been doing this whole professional poker thing for almost a decade now. Barring outside forces, I'd guess I'm done with online. I hope the next year of live will tell me how much longer I wanna do this.

Thanks for reading.

Graph:

Brilliant :')

Results-wise things have been going fine this year, maybe running a little bad.

I wanna look at two folds I've made in the past month, one of which is bad GTO and good(?) exploitatively, and one that's good GTO and bad exploitatively.

One limp, OMC limps BU with $500, I limp SB Q8, 4 ways

Pot $20
48T
I lead $15, BB calls, BU raises to $75, I call

Pot $185
Q
I check, BU snap bets $250 with $170 behind

Obviously this is a terrible fold vs anyone but a nit and means that the only hand I'm continuing with is 16 combos of J9 vs the 60-70 combos I'm bet/calling the flop. I don't think his range is anything but 44, 88, maybe Js9s vs which I have 27%

On the other hand, if he has even one combo of T8s then this gets closer to worst fold of all time territory but I don't think OMCs instabet on the Qd there. If I were to play this hand over I think I'd just stick it in and tell myself lol oh well can't fold rather than deal with the uncertainty.



SB is very active 3betting pre and definitely thinks I'm tight. He's up $2k on his 500 stack being super aggro with a couple coolers thrown in. He's ~25, not a pro, not a complete dumbass, and brimming with high confidence. He's also making the fish feel awful by pointing out how inferior they are at no-limit texas hold'em with his Posh Spice-level English accent.

I raise 55 $20 in EP, SB 3bets to $75, I call. $1000 eff

Pot $150
963
Check CHeck

Pot $150
4
He bets $100 pretty quickly, I call

Pot $350
K
He fires $350 with not much thought

During the hand my mind was screaming at me to call as this is the perfect line for a dumbass make-no-sense bluff I thought he'd eventually try on me. I knew GTO would recommend folding this hand but calling most pairs with a club, TT-QQ AK, 98s,T9s. I eventually convinced myself he could be bluffing with the best hand or maaaaaaybe have AK. Sure enough, he flipped over the ol' AdJd. Sometimes you just gotta trust your gut amirite

How do you get that graph, what software did you use to make it?

5/10/25

$2200 eff with CO

I raise UTG $85 with AsKh, MP calls, CO raises to $275, I raise to $625, he calls.

Pot $1370

KJ3

I bet $340, he snapjams $1600, I call, he grins and says "once"

Turn J river Q

I hold vs 27

Sometimes playing the 27 game pays off