Welcome to the thread

I am taking the plunge....errr... dipping a toe into professional poker... 1/3, 2/5, 5T, NLHE and PLO. For those that don't know me - I am a regular in the LLSNL forum, and up until now, a completely recreational player. I think I have the skills to borrow some money meant for bills, and take a shot at poker.

What will "going semi-pro" entail?:
- 8 hrs+ per week playing
- tracking every result in this thread
- studying and review
- no touching my poker roll.. not for pit games.. not for real life.. not for..mmm..ok maybe for hookers and blow

My goal is to establish a > 10 bb / hr winrate and to put in at least 500 hrs per year.

We start tonight!


(fyi - I will not answer any question that reveals personal info like location, name, etc. I also ask that if you do know me IRL, do not reveal any info of that nature in this thread)

Awesome - GL bip! I was hoping you would do one of these. I am subbed.

First!

LOL @ semi-pro.

How many total hours of each game (NLHE and PLO) do you think you have played?

4rd! In after PAD!

Glglglgl

Can this be the new LLSNL Chat Thread?

IMA little pissed off he is taking so long to answer questions...

Obvious sub is obvious.

Bip I'm going to rape you with questions in here, you have been warned.

Good luck bip!!

* checks in run good so bip! can check some out *

Gmyfirstpostinthisforum!G

5th Element...err i mean 5th

scribed...dont let me down b!p

awesome title, gl jackie moon

I would love for this thread to get action like chat!!! And just for APD, from here on out there will be a strict 10 second max between questions and replies

Soooo.... what took so long is that I was driving to the casino... and... playing cards like a semi-pro would!!

Hit for the cycle tonight I love sitting at whatever is open:

10 minutes 4-8 1/2 kill limit Omaha 8:
(lol I sat down with $1k in chips... scared the retirement table!) +$34
... biggest pot is when I bluffed with air - on a twice checked around - 6 players to flop kill pot - A2TAK rainbow board. Unbelievable - a man can bluff a 6 way pot in 4/8 O8 .. they saw the stack, they knew they were dealing with a semi-pro

(... more to come.. sitting back in)

Wooohoooo! What a start

I bounced tables a bunch. Like usual, game preference and open seats were backwards, so I sat at some for as little as 10 minutes. Here goes:

4/8 limit Omaha 8 (6/12 kill).. only open seat upon arrival
0:10 +$34
1/3 NLHE $300 buy in cap
0:10 -$68
2/5 NLHE $1k cap
0:35 +$349
5T HO $2k cap
1:30 +$1056
... dinner 0:30
2/5 NLHE $1k cap
1:00 +$430

Net for the night is: 3:25 +$1801

Hands to discuss:
Spew
Blew an entire buy in + in one hand @ 2/5 with KJo off on a T3435 board...

I was LP with ~$550, villain covers. Villain was MP and my read going into the hand was that he had been quite selective preflop and aggressive on all streets with good hands.
2 limps (including V), I make it $25 from CO, folds around, 1st limper folds, V calls. Fist that I am seeing him limp call... I assign a range of rag suited aces and 22-88ish

Flop T34 - He checks, I bet $40, he calls... from what I observed so far, this villain would have check raised all pocket-pairs including ones that made sets. So after his call he can't have anything too strong, and his range is a lot of draws or connectors that hit a pair. I am planning to triple barrel all blank run-outs.
Turn T343- I like this card. Against my apparent range, an overpair, any Tx hand (T9 etc) has counterfeited 2 pair "outs" and villain will be aware of that. He checks, I bet $70, he calls... So with his range in my mind being weak Tx / 65s / XcYc I plan on this bet folding Tx hands or setting them up for a tough river call (villain has shown a fold button), and if he is on the flush draw, I am also building a pot to steal on the river.

River - He checks... I lose at showdown to whiffed A-high flush draw and I still may need to shake Tx hands out.. so I am not going check behind. I bet $150 into $270 pot (villain doesn't track pot size, so the bet looks huge).. villain thinks... and min-raises to $300... weird - this line is unlike anything villain has shown me, so I drop the Tx from his range and I decide he is bluffing missed flush draws.. which I can't just call because I only have K high. At this point the pot is $720 and I have ~$265 left... so I shove leaving him on the spot to call a 3bet river. Even though it is only $115 more to him... he has a lot of chips left (so discount the frustrated last $115 throw in) and will lay down almost all weak holdings here.

He thinks for just a bit and calls. He waits for me to show KJo and then rolls over A3o for trip 3s

.. It looks horrible if you just look at this hand in a vacuum. However, if there is one thing I can try to promote - have confidence in your ranges on villain and be willing to go to end with that range. What happened here is I assigned too tight a range to villain. I never though he would play a rag offsuit A for a limp call preflop. I thought all 3x hands (like A3) would fold flop. The fact that the flop 3 was a club thus discounted any trip 3s from his range for me. Now if the turn had been another 4, then I could have given him credit for a club combo draw 4cXc and maybe slowed down.

So what do you do in these cases? Well realize
1) My table image is set as a bluffing maniac now
2) Adjust my reads on villain
3) realize villain adjusted to me prior to this hand. My frequent c-bets and aggression preflop led to a change in his play. Note that this villain will adjust to how you are running/playing for the future.


So now... let me show you the good side of going to the end with a range.

Collection with interest

So about an orbit later I have rebought and am up to ~$700, I pick up KK in the CO. Folds to the same villain in MP, who makes it $20, one caller in between, I make it $80. I am a frequent 3 bettor and also my image has been established as maniac.. so I know this is getting called. Villain calls $80 after debating "I should put you all in now"...etc. Caller in between folds. Now, Villain's range is AK and QQ-TT... and I am certain of this. He would 4bet AA and KK against me. I also put some weight in his little speech... he is one that is there to show off - too much ego. So he is not speaking for deception, he is speaking the truth here. He had an urge to shove, meaning a good PP, but not good enough.

Flop T94 rainbow.. beautiful

He checks, I bet $110 into a $185 pot. Now he will give up with all AK at this point or check-raise it (which I will call). He calls... perfect. His range is:
QQ (6)
JJ(6)
TT(3)

Turn card is an A... now this is where most people who do not take a range to the end will miss huge value. He has not a single A in his range - nothing has changed and Villain is in call down mode.

I bet $170 into $405 pot... he calls (he is adjusting to my play by calling me down with decent hands based on history)

River is a 2, perfect blank. Pot is $745 now and I have $340 left. He checks and almost all of the 2/5 table would check behind here "because of that A"... not me.. I take a range to the end. He has QQ or JJ and that is it here. TT would have always led OTR (but I would call river always just in case he switches his mind to rep the A).

I shove, he calls, I show KK and take down a ~$1400 pot He explains he "had a big pair". Immediately after this hand... the table still thinks I am a maniac for betting 3 streets with KK on a Axxxx board. One reg seat changes to my left... but you can't think of that in a vacuum as 3 streets with KK on Axxxx board. I played against a tight range and got max value.

Now this alone does not justify the spew from above, but I am being fair to show the down and up side of my style of play. The range tells me what to do.. plain and simple. The line is not going to be the mistake, if I make a mistake, it will be the range.. and I will adjust. This is how to learn to bluff really well - is have balls to follow a range to the end.

So other notes:
- I left the 5T game as I was getting uncomfortable with that much in play and it was affecting me being $2300 deep. The game was good though. It was 5 handed with 2 aggro whales... with a bankroll I could hang in there.. but 5T PLO with a $20 straddle (always raised) from the aggros sets me up for too big of swings at this point. I was also losing focus as I went straight from work and had not had dinner. So I took 30 minutes and got dinner.. and I cannot describe how proud of myself I am for doing something as simple as that

- After sitting at 5T, I am now so comfortable at 2/5.. which wasn't always the case. So a good hint for others - shot take 1 level higher for a session and all of a sudden your proper limits seems like a breeze

Cash NLHE - probably about 150~200 hours lifetime.
I also have played around 50,000~100,000 hands online.
Several NLHE tournaments in the experience bank too.

PLO - about lol 10 hours live. Maybe 5,000 hands online.

My bulk of time in poker (~200 hours) was 20/40 limit hold em live years ago.

BTW - I have no proof of being a winning player.. I am just leaning on 2+2 addiction for that.

Wow sick start and sick that you know all those games.

I see you in LLSNL a lot so insta-support! I'll probably learn a lot too so bonus! GL!

ty Cr0nChop

I might like it....

It worked GG! One of my best results ever last night!!

thx for scribing miami - make yourself at home ITT

ty ty

thanks for support!

About knowing all the games.. I may still be pretty novice at some of them, but I don't mind venturing out and learning something new. I do feel I pick up on variations of poker very fast though, and I credit it to the fact I played a ton of card games growing up. Euchre, Bridge, Spades, Hearts, Gin... War lol.. Go Fish... My dear mom was a card player so I have her to thank. Ty Mom.

So my goal is 10 bb / hr and 500 hours in one year.

Data:
4/8 O8, 0:10, +34
1/3 NL, 0:10, -68
2/5 NL, 1:35, +779
5/T HO, 1:00, +1056

Progress:
205 minutes, 243 BBs won = 71.1 bb /hr

.. let's hope I don't cool down

grats on session 1

well thought out hand histories...both are very good examples of ranging, formulating plans and following through, just a quick question on the KK hand, for a villain who has shown the willingness to "float with" bottom pair -if i put myself in his shoes, he likely was calling the flop to get lucky and hit trips or two pair (guessing), why would you discount all combo's of AK? You don't think he is capable based on the previous hand of calling 1 time to get lucky?

subbed! great first session, love the hand analysis.

This is a very fair point.

I guess it is not completely impossible for him to have AK there, but I would certainly discount it heavily. I didn't mention it before, but he snap called OTF which helped my read. On the A3 hand he had to think each street (or hollywood on turn.. either way).. With AK on a T9x flop, he would have to think a little bit. He called like his mind was made up already from pre-flop... plus he had "checked dark" to me. All these live tells help me range.

Even if we give him all combos of AK:
AK(6)
QQ(6)
JJ(6)
TT(3)

I am still ahead of his calling range and should continue the value betting.

i dont disagree, just wanted to know if you had considered it being a possibility, didn't realize he had checked dark

i wouldn't give all 6 combos, 2 max (ones with back door flush draws), although it could be 1 max since i dont know your suits

agree, I think you played the KK hand great.

maximizing value against a range of hands, and not slowing down bc a portion of that range improved, is the way to go

I have heard the 20/40 game where you are is pretty juicy. I'd keep your location secret in the PGC thread though.

It's game time! On my way to the poker room to complete 8 hours for week 1. Don't be a lurker - reply with "subbed" if you want to scribe to the best spew bluff stories ITF

I'm subbing and curious to see your results ...

Considering your back ground have you ran these numbers yet?

"What are the odds of BIP completely crushing live cash games for a living ????"
I'm gonna take the over here and say pretty damn good!!
Good luck my friend good luck!!

Welcome Stacking!

More run good tonight

0:25 1/3 +106
2:30 2/5 +594

I will post some hands when on computer.