Apache is my dog, Im Jon. Im starting this blog to keep track of whats going on. So far Ive been playing cash poker for only 2 months. Mostly at local charities.
Today I played my first ever mtt, a 150 buyin I won entry to. I played real conservative, I remember stacking a few people but I was ahead the whole hands. Made it to the final table after putting a bad beat on an older gentleman- I hit a queen on the river with my aq vs his ak! In the end I was in the cash but on a bubble because after I lost they decided to all split the pot for about 700 more than my measly 365.
Oh and then I lost it all on the cash game... Also my bankroll is low, about 300 above my initial buyin of 200. I thought I was doing ok but now lets see...

Welll its official- im no longer a winning player. i bought in for 200, doubled that, but nobody would call any bet so I left and came back to another table. I ran into a table nemesis as a dealer and he did a number on me. I lost with 10 full of q vs queens full of 3s, trips vs a straight etc. I wound up down around 400 on the night...
I was playing a bit more aggressively than usual but I guess I didnt bet enough because whenever I had a good hand theyd call me down with garbage. Then later I raised my standard bet to 15 and theyd all fold.
Ill be back...

Thinking about it, alot of the bad beats that happened couldve been prevented by bigger bets. Im not sure though because they seemed like lucky calling stations.

My notes on tonight- I played 1/2 made around 100 but it seemed a tight game and the 2/5 was calling my name.

Im new at that limit and I played tight. I did lose one big pot with aq preflop, vs ak. Other than that I didnt limp, but I kept folding. I think these guys stink but they throw around alot of $$$ so there is adjustment for me. Some ahole was kinda rude and laughed when I bet an inapropriate amount for this table, but they all suck or they wouldnt be overbetting on a 2/5. And any decent player wouldnt give a new fish a hard time, so screw him, Ill take joy in taking his chips in the future. I moved back to 1/2 probably down a couple hundred on the night.

Well last night I played at the casino 1/2 It wasnt soft but I managed a 190 profit. I didnt limp and cbet every hand since I was not limping in with poor hands.

Tonight I played at a charitable. The first hand was ace 5 and I bet 10 and got a few callers. Flop was ace 5 7 with two spades out there and I bet 15 and got raised. I reraised to 60 and got called by two. On the turn i bet 50 and got two callers. Then the river came with a king of spades-I folded my 2 pair, and the guy in the middle folded a straight. villain was likely just faking a spade.




A bit later there was alot of money in th pot and I had kk. Same villain went allin with flush, straight draws on the board- I called and made the money back.
Later I had 88, I bet 15 and got a few callers. Flop comes 8 10 10. I slow played it a bit thinking I had the nuts, turn comes ?, River comes 10 and suddenly my 30 dollar bets are no good and I get reraised? I tanked a bit b4 folding my full house, the other guy was kind enough to show his quad 10s. in the end I made about 12 bucks tonight= better than losing 400.

I had a rough night tonight at the charitables. The table had a 2-5 reg stop by and he was running us in circles. He was betting and winning every pot via aggression. Finally I got AJ hearts with a flop of two hearts and middle cards. I could tell any bet I made he would reraise so I went allin for some fold equity. He called with 10 10 and won for 200. I left and came back and it took awhile but I went allin with qq vs an AJ with a jack on the board. Turn jack, river ace.
I think I was allin good both of those hands but shiyt happens...?

Im supposed to be on a flight to vegas right now, but the trip got cancelled. My buddy talked me into the trip, he doesnt gamble. But he drinks, he went out last night and got beat up and robbed of his ID. Oh well, I guess hes ok but the trip is a no go.
I had it all planned out, staying at venetian, Bouchon for breakfast, ufc fights tomorrow, Cut for dinner sunday. Ill make it out there soon and probably be a better poker player by then also.

I played 1/2 at the local casino. After a 2 hour wait I got a table, it was super nitty. I made 100 bux and then the pivotal hand of the night- I had pocket aces in position, the whole table limped to me. All night my 10 dollar bets were shutting things down with no callers so I bet 7- got 5 callers. Flop came 467 I bet 20 and got a call, I bet the turn 40, and the river 45 and he went allin. The guy had hit a straight on the flop with 3-5 off. Some people gave me a hard time for betting thm so weak preflop, but I didnt think anyone would call a 10 dollar bet, and then with the flop I thought my aces were good so I bet more. That guy who flopped a straight ran lucky after that, he did stuff like call at showdown with a pair of 3s so I think he was lucky but he made around 500 before I left 20 dollars down on the night.

Im playing right now but on a break for a few minutes. That 2-5 reg is back and theres no 2- 5 so hes on our table. He moved right into position on me, must havve me tagged as a fish. Hes gotten taken down a few notches by people playing ridiculous hands- his are even worse. I couldve made alot with an ace queen suited, I folded preflop after the villain bet 15 and another went allin for around 60. villain wound up winning with a 9 high card. It wouldve been tough for me to see showdown because hed put me allin and my cards never hit. Then I hit another ace q heads up vs him, I slowplayed the queen high flop too much and he just checked till the river and he bet like 5 and I raised and he folded. And I hit a set of aces on a flop and two people folded to my ten dollar bet... So far im up $30 and im at home with apache, the room is like 3 minutes away today so Ill be back with report part 2.

Is this real life?

When i showed back up to the table a teenage nit had taken over. He had 1500 or so from a 200 buyin when I left an hour ago. The first hand I got was Ace Q I guess thats the theme for the night. I hit a q on the flop and bet around 20 got called by an older reg who is usually a nit but mixes it up a bit but its predictable. Then I hit a ace for 2 pair, went allin and this guy had a set of 6s. Of course the ahole gave his 2 cents, hes been calling players fish and stuff all night which tells me hes no fisherman just a dumbass witha big bankroll who likes running over people.
It came down to 5 handed play and I left, Ill try back there soon but im not playing on that short table where th other players have more experience than me.

I went back, and am home now done for the night. I bought in for 200 and this time there were a few regs who I knew. I dont even have any memorable hands but I did cash out over 800, up 500 up on the night. The main thing that happened is im a bit more aggressive than usual, thinking more about postflop play and taking advantage a bit more there, which was the theme for the night with alot of people. I didnt mean to call that teenager a nit- hes laggy.

All thepoker im talking about is live cash game. I did good in the end tonight, but it took 3 rounds and I had to leave the room while the unappealing table was short players. My goals next session- more postflop play. And mix the betting up, im pretty bad about either minraising or allin nothing inbetween. The villain cashed out 1600 but I think he bought in 600, I dont want to get in a dick swinging contest but I cant wait till the day I slow play him and he puts me allin deepstacked.

The A5 hand fold pre. Google Baluga Whale Theorem. It's not an exact match but it's close to that situation. 888101010 hand is a puke check/fold on that river. You have a tiny amount of showdown value but a worse hand is not calling so leading the river is pretty bad.

QQ is standard. I have no idea what the relative stack sizes are or what the preflop action was in the AJh hand but open shoving the flop is pretty bad. Just bet 3/4 pot on flop and try and see a free river if possible. (i have no idea if you were in position)

Looks like you learned a valuable lesson here with Aces. Since you're new I recommend sticking with a standard preflop raise size (10$ sounds about right the way you describe the game) all the time to avoid giving any bet sizing tells away. You need to thin the herd down to 1 caller preflop. Maybe 2 is ok but 5 is realllly horrible. That flop is awful for aces 6 way but I'd bet 2/3 pot on the flop then fold if I get pressure back on any street. As played, check/fold turn and check/fold river. If the board pairs maybe try and squeeze some value on the river, but other than that youre ****ed.

AQs is an easy fold preflop unless both players are drunk AND stupid.

Standard cooler.

Sounds like a great room overall. Disclaimer: I only play poker 3-4 times/yr these days. If you are serious about improving your play start posting in the live low stakes NL forum. Read up on hand history posting format before you do though, or you'll likely be trolled out.

I was off on the count, I rebought 165. Im up just over 400 so far this year. I started a 2k bankroll wallet to keep track.

That's wonderful; keep it up. Very nice blog. I enjoy reading your posts.

Looking back all my big wins are late at night, so im gonna take a nap and go to the charitable in a couple hours. Im gonna stay away from overbetting ace queen too.

Oh man what a table... I got there late with an hour and 40 minutes to play. I got seated at a table in seat 2 with two milfs to my left out on a girls night out, then an unknown, then an Arab looking guy, a hippie ive played with alot, an Asian reg, and another unknown.
The first 5 hands it seemed like I had the nuts in the end, but got bet out preflop. Then I hit an ace 6, flop comes ace ace 6. I slowplayed it vs the hippie till the turn and min raised from 12 to 25, then 50 on the river and he thought a bit b4 calling. I think I got as much as I could but who knows. Hes been tight but he mustve read a book or something because his style changed drastically to betting alot with garbage pushing people around. Then these ladies took over, ill call them betty and veronica.
Veronica went allin like 4 times and showed the nuts every time, it was the two guys to her left who kept mixing it up with her and losing. Then Betty goes nuts and its the same thing, she wound up winning over $1400!!! on this one two in the hour and a half while I was there.
the only other big hand I got into was a with qq, got them to fold on turn witha 75 dollar bet
I wound up 140 on the night so I cant complain...

I have to make a note of this location, its extra juicy because the Arab who owns the joint invites his rich friends. I think they dont respect women and thats why it was so easy for the ladies to run them over. Even after these ladies got rich everyone at the table had 100 bb+, I shouldve gone earlier.

The 2-5 villain who I dislike cashed out 1000+ again. He was on the 2-5, id have loved if the ladies got him.
Now I have a question if anyone can answer. I read about range polarization, so is the point to make it to showdown cheaply and then show those lame cards? Like tonight it wouldnt matter, I went a half hour b4 my first lead out bet and then I still got 6 callers. So to polarize would be a waste right? the other thing is it was juicy, so I wasnt about to bet alot of money just to show garbage that they didnt pay attention to.

Omg, I must be the worst poker player in the world. I got onto a table of fish, half the time there were 7 people in preflop. I made some $$$ and was the biggest stack for a long time, I asked to move but we were the short table.

I decided to play a garbage hand and then it was about to turn into a straight. I was waiting for a 10. 10 comes on river and I bet 100 thinking I made it. I look back at cards and am a dumbass.!@#$%$#@#$%

So I was on tilt then and the guy who won had a target on his head. I made it back and then some but I cant forget my stupidity.
Cashed out 450 on my 260 buyin, up about 700 on the year. Ive had minimal variance with my weak playing style, I havent had a losing session yet this year.

I played online for years but just play money so it didnt count. - But I learned something because my 1st 200 buyin at the charitables went straight up to 2000 in a month. I lost that back and am now back above even as a 4 month old career. I have alot to learn but my basic style seems to be ok. Now I just have to learn to trust the math, I compare it to bass fishing, Once I saw that the fish would bite on a rubber worm I was all about plastics. I just have to put my faith in the math and see results and then ill be a mathmatical player. Im still super wimpy and could get run over at the table.

I lost a few bucks today maybe 100. The main hand was the same old bs- jq and it was limped around till the turn hit a j and then river hit a q, the villain had a 3 5 and hit a straight on flop with 246 After that allin loss I was just limping around, I went down and up but wasnt playing an a game. The opponents seemed to stink with limping around and garbage showdowns, im not good enough to take advantage yet though. A major mistake on the night- just bringing 2 buyins, I have a bankroll so I may as well use it instead of playing scared poker because I cant rebuy.

I added things up and lost only 60 bux, not bad at all given the night. I had to leave the casino and hit up a atm at one point (im too cheap for atm fees at the casino) I wasted alot of time there, from 8 pm to now at 6 am and im not tired. Im happy to not have lost too much, I probably spent 25 in drinks so lost only 35 bucks.

A funny thing, we had n internet expert on our table. He said he made tens of thousands off ftp and they paid him extra on accident. He was also limping every hand and not ever aggressive even though he had a hoodie... I mentioned the term tight aggressive in a conversation and he went on and on about how theres no such thing and tight and aggressive are opposite styles???

I've met people like that. They claim to be an expert then expose their ignorance every time they open their mouth.

Bringing only 2 buyins is fine. Your play will prob drop off after losing 2.