In the beginning...
So after being inspired by various blogs, (primarily Matt Moore’s and rob Farah) I have decided to start my own. This first post will answer two questions.

Who are you?
My name is Kyle. I started playing poker when I was 15. Like everyone else I was swept up in the moneymaker boom. However, only being 15 I had to settle playing little $20 poker tournaments with my friends. This is where my poker education began. Me and couple of other more committed players started read books, taking the game very seriously and actively started to improve our games. Soon we all had illegal accounts online. I was able to make just under five thousand before I was even 18. I primarily played 20-50 dollar sit and goes. Then I went to college and sort of just lost interest... after there was beer to drink and girls to. Then when I was about 22, one of my friends started going up to Foxwoods a lot (The University I attended was about 30 mins away). He convinced me to come up and with him. At first I just played 1/2, but he soon convicted to try 2/5. I logged in a couple winning sessions and I was hooked again. It was more money than I had seen in a long time. At school an expensive night out was like 20 bucks... I was coming back from the casino with a roll of hundreds in my pocket. I thought I was a boss. This is why I made the decision to turn pro. After college ended in May 2011, I got an apartment with a couple of friends who were still in school.

Everyday I would make the 30 min drive to Foxwoods and grind.
I decided to give this a year. I needed to see if I could do this... to see if the dream was possible. After a year I would decide to continue playing poker, get a real job or go to graduate school. I am proud to report my year was success. I was able to fully support myself playing poker and made slightly more money than most people do at their first post college job. The story as a whole isn’t too exciting. I quickly learned how important bankroll management is (the hard way) and that is the primary reason I stepped back from 2/5 and played 1/2 95% of the time I was playing for a living. Currently, I have a real job, but I still play on the weekends or whenever I can. I play 2/5 now and every once and awhile take 5/10 shot. In time, I hope to make 5/10 my regular game. At this point in my life I am considering returning to poker, but that decision will not be made for a least early 2014. That subject will be a separate post and will go into greater detail about the pros and cons of playing for a living.

What do I hope to accomplish in this blog?
First, I hope to improve my game. I think this blog will force myself to analyze my play even more then I already do. The act of typing out my thoughts and reading people comments will give me greater insight to my game. Hopefully it will help me discover and plug leaks I did not even know I existed. Second, I hope to entertain people. I have really enjoyed reading other people blogs and hope to return the favor by keeping one of my own.

I hope to write one new entry a week. However, that might be too ambitious. If it’s too much, ill simply go down to like 3 a month or something. I want write about poker and tie them into events in my life. That way, the blog will be both entertaining and informative. I will blog about poker from past as well as my present. I still have some notes from when I was a pro, so I will be able poker stories from that era.

I hope everyone enjoys reading this.

It takes two to lie: one to lie and one to listen.

Searching for the best opportunity to make money

It was the first weekend in November, Halloween was officially over. The week long party was over and it was time to play some cards... more importantly it was time to make a little money. There was a tournament series at going at Foxwoods, the Foxwoods Poker classic and this meant the poker room was going to be very crowded. And more people = a more diluted player pool. At times there were 4 5/10 nlh games going. For Foxwoods, this is a lot. I was going to be there for two nights and three days. On Saturday I was celebrating my friends 25th birthday at Mohegan. I even took Friday off of work; it was going to be a good weekend.

I had no intentions of playing any of the tournaments. My intention was exploiting the cash games. Normally Foxwoods is lucky to have one 1/2 PLO table running, but recently larger PLO games have going. Specifically 5/5 PLO and it spread 500-2000. I saw this game as golden opportunity and joined the game as soon as it opened on Friday at about 1pm. I figured that this was going to be profitable because of lack of PLO experience that most players lack in Foxwoods. Unfortunately, I was wrong. The game was good, yes... but I forgot to take a couple variables into consideration. I over estimated my edge in the game. I am competent PLO player, but I’m not great. With my bankroll, I should not be playing a game this large. I bought in for a grand ended up adding on twice (500 each time, for a total a 2000 by in). The variance in this is too large for my bankroll and skill level to handle. When I play NLH, I see many opportunities to steal pots... in PLO, I don't see them and I was more or less just waiting for hands. So when I went card dead, there was little I could do about it. I didn't let it get to me thou, I did not spew in one big hand or try and force the issue. I lost money is pretty small amounts. I never played in a pot in which I put in more than $500 worth of my chips. I ended up cashing out 194 dollars, losing 1806. It’s not my biggest loss ever, but I'm not happy about and should have not played a PLO game bigger then 1/2. For the near future, I’m going to stick to 2/5 nlh and doing some reading on PLO before I take another shot.

This is the last PLO 5/5 hand I played before I stood up. It’s a semi interesting hand and thought I would share it with everyone. I was utg and I limped with kk76 double suited. About 5 people limped behind me and the sb raised to 20.

Digression about the player in the sb: he was loose, he was aggressive and he was now drunk. He bought in for the max (2000) because the 5/10 nlh was way too tight for his liking. I never wanted him to leave and was dying to get in a hand with him. Now, not only was he drunk... he was mad. The previous hand the dealer made a mistake and accidently mucked the deck before the river came out. He threw a fuss and the floor was called over. He was verbally abuse to both of them, but (thank god) it wasn't bad enough to get him kicked out. When the river was finally dealt and he was forced to flip his cards over... he was drawing practically dead. He had a horrible had is was time to take his money before someone else did.

This is when I saw opportunity to get in against him and since he was playing any four cards, I said "pot" and raised him. I had about 800 in front of me. One played cold called from the 2 seat before it got around to him (he had just under 500). The small blind then min raised me. I thought about it for a bit before I reported. This was my mistake. The player who cold called from middle position was a very tight player and really only has an AAxx hand there. He did, he called and made the nut flush. The sb folded preflop and i decided that i had enough, cashed out my remaining chips and went to the room for a break. My desire take the drunken player’s money sent me to my room.

hey wats up op, i myself hate the game of plo at times since I feel as a Nl player I constantly get run over even by the bad players.

PLO is an extremely volatile game especially if your a beginner even at 1-2$. it can be an expensive poker lesson if you dont have any idea what your doing. ive never played plo at foxwoods but in nyc a typical 1-2$ plo game can easily play like a 5-10 nl game, so the variance can be extremely high and the br requirements should be taken into consideration to avoid going broke.

A bluff catcher and hard apple cider

On Saturday, Nov. 9, I made one of many Saturday trips to Foxwoods and proceeded to spend the next 8 hours grinding 2/5 no limit holdem. For those of are unfamiliar, the 2/5 at Foxwoods is 10 handed and is $500 max buy-in. I got there at about 10am and by 10:30 had helped open a new table. I bought in for the max and I went to work.

The table was soft all day. I had no problem stealing many pots. I used position quite a bit and found myself raising a lot of limped pots from the cutoff and button. I didn't see too many opt unities to 3 bet. I think I did it about 5 times during the entire session and only one time did I actually have a hand (KK). The player I 3 bet was on tilt and shoved all-in with q-10. My KK held up, it was just good timing. Unfortinatly, he only had about 150 in front of him... he did hit atm and come back thou

I didn't win/play in any big pots. I slowly built up my stack over thru solid aggressive play over 8 hours. This was my biggest pot I was involved in. I picked up pocket 8s in the cutoff. It was folded to me so only opened for 20. The remaining players on my left were on the tighter side so expected to get all folds. The sb called me and we saw a flop of 5 8 A rainbow. Needless to say, it was a great flop. Then the small blind lead out for 40, even better. The sb was an older regular, probably in his late 60s and was making small talk with everyone... from dealers to other regulars. Unlike the stereotype, he was not super tight and passive old man. He was semi-tight and very aggressive. We had been at the table together for several hours and may have seen me take down a lot of small pots. This is the first real time have tangled. However, he is socializing pretty heavily so he simply may not be paying attention. After he bets out, I decide that my best line is start raising now and I pop it to 110. I figure, that he probably has at least an ace and will call. I also thought he may have noticed how aggressive I have playing aggressively and he may be trying do some kind of heroing or out of position float me. He calls pretty quickly and we see a turn, it’s a 5 and it completes the rainbow. He checks to me. Honestly, I don’t consider this the best card and I’ll tell you why in a bit. He checks to me and check back, trying to rep the line that I was simply trying to take down the pot on flop. The river is a queen and he bets out 250. The pot is 265 before the bet. I go into the tank to decide whether I’m going to raise or just call. I go thru his range; he doesn’t just have a random hand here, like q5. From the beginning I put him an A and another big card like 10-K. I saw him make a nice value bet against another player in a very similar spot about an hour ago. I think that’s the most likely hand, hence why I'm never folding here. So I start thinking about rising and how much. I started the hand with about 700 and he started with about 900 so any raise would be an all-in. I asked myself, what is in his range that he calls my raise with that I beat? The answer: almost nothing. I think it’s more likely that he has 55, AA, a weird qq then hands that I beat. The only hands he might have and call a raise with and I beat are a5 or a8, but I think it’s very unlikely that he has either of those hands in this situation. I came to the conclusion that full house was really nothing more than a bluff catcher in this situation. I elect to just call and since he was the final aggressor, I get to see his cards. He had 76 of diamonds. I won the max.


Overall the session went very well and I give myself an A. I ended up cashing out about 250 big blinds. I wanted to talk about a couple more hands, but this is getting a little long still didn't write about my hard apple cider. Perhaps later this week I will post something about them as some kind of bonus.

After the grinding was over, it was time to do a little a partying... after all it was Saturday night! My friend's girlfriend's brother was having a couple people over to his apartment then we all were going to go out in downtown Hartford. I decided to bring some of my homemade hard apple cider. It a super easy recipe and I highly suggest everyone try it. The recipe: Smirnoff caramel vodka, grain alcohol, brown sugar, cinnamon, apple cider and sliced apples. It tasted really good and when it gets even better when you the alcohol soaked apples. Some people had a tough time eating apples and complained that they soaked up all the grain and tasted awful. I thought they were fine. I also had a 12 pack of the best beer ever, shipyard pumpkin. After some pregamming and listening to the thong song radio on Pandora, we all piled in the car and went to black bear. The bar was ok. It was pretty crowed and had lot of good looking girls.. But still managed to have a no so fun vide. The dj wasn’t very good, I donno, maybe I’m just a party snob lol. I did try and hit on one girl, it went pretty bad and I was pretty embarrassed. All well, maybe next time... back to okc lol. On a final note, I really enjoy house music and it’s about the only time I wanna dance/jump around, go nuts. The dj did play a little house music, so that part was good. I threw up my fist and danced a bit. I always thought this made me look kinda gay but w/e, who cares. Well, that night one of people in our little group actually was/is gay... I saw him dance; wow I’m clearly not gay haha.

Swimming in the Deep End

Tonight and tomorrow I will be playing at Parx Casino just outside of Philadelphia, PA. I have only been there once before and have to say, it’s very nice place. I was only there for about 5 hours and only played 1/2. It was good session; I made about 400 or so. I don't remember exactly and I don’t think it’s worth looking up right now. I found the floor and the dealers to be nice and helpful. The front desk will even charge and watch your cell phone free of charge! It was also the first time I had ever seen a chip runner. These guys are awesome, Foxwoods should really have these. The other players were very nice too, one even wrote a private message on two plus two a couple days later to discuss a hand we played together. Cliff notes: he flopped top pair, top kicker. I had an over pair and raised his bet on the flop, and essentially put us both all in. He made a nice fold. However, Parx does have a couple draw backs; the first is that the poker room is not in the same building as the rest of the casino, this is strange design. Second, alcohol isn’t free. Not that it matters for me because I do not drink when I play... but isn’t that weird?

Anyway, I plan on playing 2/5 and maybe taking a shot at the 10/10 game they have running there. The 10/10 runs pretty deep and has a $3000 max. However, my next post is going to focus on the 2/5 at parx. It runs a max of 200bb ($1000). Specifically I’m going to focus on the differences between 100 and 200 big blinds. I do not get a lot of opportunities to buy in this deep and look forward to contemplating the differences. I encourage everyone who reads this to post the differences they have encountered with deeper buy ins. I will do my best to the posts in my next update.

Taking a ride at the amusement parx

This weekend was mini poker marathon at parx casino in PA. All sessions were played at 2/5 nlh. I bought for the max ($1000) each time. I'm going to divide this post into two sections. The first will be about the differences between 100 and 200 big blinds in 2/5. The second will about some hands that stood out. Unfortunately, I do not have any good outside of poker stories for this update.

Friday: 3 hours 46min
Saturday: 13 hours and 22min
Friday: 5 hours and 3min
$ Per hour: +54.39

It’s tough to put into the words difference between sitting twice as deep as I normally do, but that’s what this blog is all about. To try and put something I think I understand into words and organize my thoughts with the goal of entertaining my readers and growing as a poker player. Here it goes:

I had one basic expectation when I bought into the game deep 2/5 game at parx, that the players would make more liberal calls and it would take more than it was going to take more than bullet to get an opponent to surrender a hand more often the I was used to. This turned out to be a very reasonable expectation. Players had more money in relation to the pot and were able to act like call stations more than I was used to. This really was not a surprise and I was able to easily make the adjustment. Rob Farha’s blog was a big help. Most of his posts are about 2/5 at the Venetian in Vegas and it has $1000. I highly suggest my readers check it out. It’s called I made it!(I think? My story) (OP living in Vegas now).

On Saturday, I had the pleasure of opening a table at about 10:30 in am. This gave me the opportunity to see the way people play from when they all even… to when are up big, down big and everything in between. One thing I noticed about 200bb is that it makes tight players tighter and loose players looser… and after a couple hours, they are all loose. The large (for the stakes) buy-in makes the tight players more cautious, especially if they are taking a shot after building there bankroll up from 1/2. It takes much longer to build up the bankroll and confidence to take a shot at a game with $1000 cap. It also makes the loose players looser. The increased amount of chips in front of them gives the freedom to call, raise and bet more often than in a game with 100bb cap. However, with the increased variance that this atmosphere creates, people tend to tilt pretty easily and most tight players stop playing tight. They see all the money in the middle and can’t help but increase their range as they desperately try to claim a pot. At the end of the day on Saturday, I had almost $5,000 in front of me was able to convince the table to add an auto straddle of 10. With a largest chip stack, increased variance and superior skill, I was at a large advantage. Most players didn’t adjust to the sudden shrinkage of there buy-in and were way to loose preflop.

Ticket to Ride

Traffic was awful, a two hour car ride from White Plains to Parx Casino turned into 3 and half hours. When I got there I was about 8th or 9th on the 2/5 nlh list, but I got lucky game they started a new table shortly after I bought some chips: 2 stacks of red, 1 stack of green and 3 black chips. I sat down in three seat and the session began. Within 20 minutes I’m dealt two 6s in middle position. I still have about $1000 in front of me. Utg limps, I limp, the player on my left limps, the cutoff raises to 30. The small blind calls and so does everyone else, the pot is 155. The flop is 9 6 2 with two hearts and a diamond. It checks to me and I can see out the corner of my eye that one of players on my left wants to bet, so I let him and check. He bets out 50 lol. Sb folds and utg calls. I pop it to 200, and both the cutoff and utg call (utg has about $23 less and is now all-in). The turn was a blank diamond. I could see that my opponent had $303 left, so I put him all in. He calls instantly and the river is jack of diamonds. He turns over JJ. Just like that I was down to 400… great start. Utg had a heart draw, mucked and rebought. The player who won that bought continued playing loose and stayed hot. He built up a large stack and moved directly to his left as soon as I could.

I wasn’t able to have very much success after the strategic seat change. I lost about $200 more before I added on $300 so I would at least be at 100bbs. I won a couple pots and lost a couple pot. There was plenty of fish at the table, but I was unable to find to many profitable situations. My last hand of the night was aj of hearts on the button. I had about $600 in front of me. There were several limpers so I raised to 30 preflop. 2 other people besides me saw the flop and the pot was about 105 or so. The flop was q 5 2 with two diamonds. It checked to and elected to see another card (My continuation bets were being called too often and it was time to tighten up). The turn was the ace of spades and one bet out 50, he had 2.5x as many chips as I did. I called. The river was a 10 diamonds. He checked to me. I thought this was a great card for me. My opponent was a pretty straight up and fishy player. I knew he thought this card was bad. A very wide range of hands got there, plus my hand as it was had some showdown value. I bet out $150. I think this bet is both a value bet and a bluff, I know that sounds weird, but think about. It looks like all he has is a weak ace, so I want him to call. On the other hand, he could have some weird weak two pair or AK. However, with he thinks that his hand is beat… so he could fold a better hand. After thinking about it for a little bit he calls, I figured with that much thinking… it was crying call with a weaker ace and I was good. Turns out I was right except he had AK and I lost. After that hand I waited until the orbit was finished, picked up my chips and left. I was tired from work and the drive. I decided I wasn’t going to be able to play to the best of my abilities and it would be more profitable to wait until tomorrow.

Wow, was I right. I was fresh and ready to go. I grinded for over 13 hours and played very well. I was even lucky enough to catch the good side of AA vs KK.

How to play 2/5 No Limit Holdem: By dcfc17

Step 1: Win

Step 2: Stack Chips (See example in Figure A1)

Figure A1:

Here Comes the Sun

This past weekend, I spent my Saturday at Mohegan Sun. With the exception of a 1/2 session for my friends birthday, I haven’t played a side game at the sun in about three years. I just don’t see the point; 10-15min away is a bigger and better poker room. Today, however, was different. The deep stacks tour hit the sun harder than a certain boxer hit his girl. I have never seen the poker room so crowed. Luckily I called and got there early (about 1030am) and my named was called for 2/5 while I was inline getting chips. I bought a stack of green and three stacks of red; the max at Mohegan is 800. I was seated at must move and pleased to find a table full of fishy players, including one player who calling off huge bets with top pair and just about any kicker. This looked like it was going to be a profitable day as I won a couple pots and brought my stack up to just over a grand. The crowd in the poker room was growing and so was the lists, the 2/5 was extensive the 5/5 interest was getting just over 10. Another 2/5 table was created and I thought “Great! This will become a main game and I can stay this fishy table” No dice, just made two must moves. Mohegan is so poorly run, why do I even come here? The list is so long they could create two more main games and instead they create a must move to a must move…. This isn’t 10/20 nlh and up at the Bellagio. So after about an hour at the must move, I moved to the 2/5 main game. It takes about half second me to realize this isn’t a great table; it’s full of rocky regulars who know each other fairly well. It’s not a big deal, I can and have cracked tables like this before… but it’s a bit more challenging than your typical fish. On a weekday, this wouldn’t annoy me so much, but today, there is room full of bad players me to exploit, why should I work harder for less money? I don’t play poker for the challenge, to socialize or the thrill. I play poker to make the most money I possibly can in the easiest way possible and that simply wasn’t going to happen at this table. At the time this was only main game and the biggest game going, so I was stuck. The only thing I could do was wait a couple hours for a new main game, new game higher stakes or the players to leave and hopefully be replaced by bad ones. Ugh.

There is only hand I want to highlight at the 2/5 main game. I was in the cutoff with about $1000 in front of me. Utg and utg + 1 limped in and the rest folded to me. I opened the pot with a raise to $25 as I looked down at QQ. The blinds folded and both limpers called me. The pot was $87 as we took a flop of J 8 2 rainbow. They checked to me and I bet out $60, this was obviously a dam good flop for queens. I was called by utg + 1 and the dealer peeled off a red 6 for the turn and completed the rainbow. Pretty harmless card, my opponent checked to me and I bet out $140 into a $207 pot. As I placed my bet over the betting I looked up at my opponent and they he started breathing pretty hard. “Dammit, his adrenalin is kicking in; he thinks he has a very good/winning hand.” He called my bet and the pot was now $487. The river was a 5, another seemly harmless card. My opponent bet out $225 and I decided I was going to take some to think. He is semi-tight rock who tends to be a little bit more passive then aggressive. However, he is also capable of some higher level thinking and I saw him already make one hero call for with bottom pair. I don’t think he has a straight or a two pair because both of hands make little to no sense for the way that plays, so dismiss them. He needed a hand that justifies calling a preflop raise out of position. So that means a big jack or a pocket pair. Maybe 6-5 suited but that seems pretty unlikely. I can beat any jack, obviously… but his bet screams confidence and that just isn’t conducive to just top pair. He’s seen me play at this table for a little and been betting a lot and picking up small pots whenever I can, so he may think I’m steal a lot… which I am. That’s when the answer comes to me, he has pocket 66s and turned a set. He floated me on the flop and then hit his hand, it made perfect sense. I’d rather keep my $225, even thou its fairly small bet, and I fold.

About a half hour later, the entire list is called for a 5/5 game. I put my card down, finish the orbit and head to the cage to grab $400 more in greens. I sit down in seat four with $1000 in front of me. This table is much better, the players aren’t as good and there is a $1500 max. After a couple orbits, I pick up my first real hand: black AK, the being ace spade. I am utg + 1 and elect to limp. Six other people join me, including the blinds. We all see a flop of red king, jack of spades and 4 of spades. It checks to me and I bet out $30. Seat 6 raises it to $80 and it folds back to me. My first instinct is to fold, as a general rule… I think it’s wise it play cautiously when I table first opens. However it takes me about half a second to realize he may not be as strong as I think. I can beat many hands in his range. This raise struck me as strange and I figured if I raised it up, I would have a better understanding of where I stood. I raised it up to $200. He called fairly quickly, but it was not instantly; he did think for a little. This screamed weakness, the man was not confident in his hand. The turn was a red 9 and it was time to bet. I thought $500 would be enough, but decided it was a little too much and bet out $450 into a $435 pot. He paused and thought for quite some time, this was good time and I figured this was good sign. I was a little nervous at first and my heart speed up. I began to start calming myself down; I reminded myself I’ve made bets much larger then this and my bet was the right play. (btw I remained generally motionless and clam looking, I’ve gotten pretty good at masking my emotions or just generally ignoring them.) Gradually my heartbeat slowed down as he my opponent thought about what to do for quite some time. This was a good sign and I figured he was probably going to fold.

Then he pushed all-in. I let out a sigh, this wasn’t great. I had about $350 and decided to think about it for bit, even thought I had well over half my stack in the middle. I checked his stack, he had me covered. I went thru his range: he did not have a set; his body language did not indicate strength. Then I thought about two pair, again I didn’t think KJ was likely for the same reason as a set. So that left a King and flush draw or some odd two pair. This wasn’t great for me, I its most likely that I am beat here. But I figure with all the money invested and a somewhat chance that I actually do have him beat, I call. The river is a 9 or spades. This is awful card; it basically killed any chance I had of winning the pot. Except he turns over J4 off for a counterfeited two pair and I double my stack.

Question: In hindsight I am beginning to think my $450 turn bet was too much. What does everyone else think of that bet?

I stay at the 5/5 table until about 5:30 and by then, I found that was simply not enjoying myself for some reason. I wasn’t sick, but didn’t feel well. I begin to wonder if I simply feel guilty sucking someone out like that. It’s so rare that it actually happens and I make a mistake like that. Or maybe I was just tired; I worked all week and worked out all week. I got up at 8am on my day off and drove all the way to the sun (hour and half). I did everything I could to combat this and keep playing… after all, it was a good table. I got a cup of coffee and got something healthy to eat. I even went for a short walk to clear my head. Still nothing worked and I still didn’t feel well. I decided to rack up and go home.

Even with the double I still only managed to make $207 on the day. I misread a different opponent and made a bad call. I gave him too much credit and thought his capable of an advanced play. He wasn’t and simple answer turned out to be right and I lost almost $400 on the hand. I’m not complaining by any means, I think any win is a good win. My only real goal when I go play is to play well and make good decisions in every situation. I would like to point out that since I didn’t call $225 on the river at the 2/5 table, I was in the green for day. To quote a great poker mind…

“Money saved, is money earned”

Hello everyone, I will do an update when I can. Work has been really busy latly. I spent the weekend in AC, so my next update will be about that. thank you for reading

No don't sink the boat.
That you built, you built to keep afloat

I have hit the other side of variance; the part that weeds out the weak. Only the players with the strongest mental tools will be able to survive. Lucky, I acquired the tools to deal the unavoidable fact that you will lose long ago. I will tread as little water as possibly can, so that when the storm is over… I will easily be able to build my arch. This isn’t my first “losing streak” and certainly will not be my last.

It started with a 5/10 shot that resulted in a loss of two buy-ins (100bbs each). This loss hurt my pride more than anything, I was felted at the table and forced myself to stand up and leave, rather than dig into my pockets for another buy in. When I take shot at higher limit, my bankroll must be at certain level and I only allow myself two buy ins. Obviously, this shot did not go very well and it was back to 2/5 for me.

Despite my loss, my play was not terrible. It defiantly could have been better thou. I give myself a grade of a B-. I lost half my buy in on my first hand. I was out of position and AK lost to A9 two pair. That stung mostly because it was the first hand. So after I added on back to 100 big blinds. I lost a half my stack again and added on back to 100 big blinds. I did not tilt, I kept my emotions intact and in time I was able to build my stack back up to just under $2,000. I was proud of myself, at 2/5 I have next no emotion involved in my play, it is very mechanical and heartless, but at 5/10… I’m still learning to control myself. Every time I take a shot, I get better and it only a matter of time before my bankroll is big enough for the move to become permanent and I am blogging about 10/20 and 10/25 shots.

After I was able to build my stack back up, I lost a pot that cost me roughly $1000. I simply did not mentally recover from this and lost the rest of stack two hands were I expect myself to know better. The moves weren’t all bad and they made sense, but they just simply shouldn’t be made from that position. This is how my final hand went: I was in the big blind and I looked down at red 77. Early position had raised it to 60 and I would be caller number seven, making the pot 420 (haha ya, I know). The flop was 2 3 4 with two spades. The small blind bet out $200 and raised him to $500. This was a mistake, even thou I may have the best hand; there are way too many people behind me yet to act. My position is horrible and this clearly a spot where if I don’t hit the set I should fold. It comes around to the dealer who goes all in. The small blind folds and it’s on me. I think about it for a bit before I correctly figure out that he has a draw straight and flush draw. I am behind, but I call anyway. He turns over J6 of spades and adds an over card to his outs. He hits the spade on the river and I stand up. I may have loss, but I gain some valuable experience. I use the memories of this session to improve my game come back stronger.

So as far as my AC trip is concerned: My AC trip was pretty uneventful. I started the trip with 4 losing sessions before finally recovering and I ended up a $100 winner on the trip. All my sessions were at 2/5, my bankroll did not meet the requirements needed to take a 5/10 shot. It’s too bad because I really like playing 5/10 at the Borgata. The mid-stakes room is very nice and makes you feel a little bit like a baller.

So as far as my losing streak is concerned: I’m very proud of this, I really feel as if I have lost the minimum in each of my losing sessions. I play for 6-8 hours and I have not let my emotions dictate how I play. I pick up whatever I have left when I get tired and do not feel like playing anymore. I do not just simply push in all my chips and hope to either double up or go home. I value my bankroll as a whole. I am more than just my one session.

There are also a couple winning sessions mixed into my downslide. This makes the whole experience very manageable. I will continue to play to the best of abilities and stay afloat.

Cool blog. You have a good amount if leaks IMO pm me if you wanna go over your hands. You tend to pay little attention to pot size and bet sizing from the few examples I read and you make your decision on the fly if something unexpected happens as opposed to having a certain range for each situation I.e. When you bet 405 in that AK hand and guy jammed. You needed a plan for that. ( snap call btw since you're getting 4-1 and your read puts him on the only hand you have beat there).

A few questions OP :

What's your bankroll?
Do you keep it seperate from your life roll?
Does your life roll give you enough financial stability?
Do you only play on weekends?

I'm doing something similar and work full time as well. My roll is at 20k and I strictly play 1/2 and 2/5. Shot taking is no good because you don't play your A game and it'll take you twice as long to make up the loss in your normal stakes. GL and parx and Foxwoods are a joke with competition.

Actually I count every pot I'm in and often "practice" counting the pot when I'm in the hand. I know the size of the pot before the next card is put up on the board. I also put my opponent on a range every single hand (yes, I practice this when I'm not in the hand too) and I always have a plan. When I am not in a hand, I often give myself a made up hand that I may have in the situation and go over my options.

However, I can see how I would come across that way. I think I need to work on my writing ability so I can portray my thought process a little better. I rarely snap call (exception: the nuts, obviously) because I do like to take a moment to think things out, despite if think I'm very far ahead and have great pot odds. Going back to the AK hand, there was nothing I didn't think of.

To answer your questions:
-I'd prefer not state my bankroll
-It's separate, but not completely separate. It's hard to explain. It's more like a portion of it is separate.
-Yes, I have financial stability
-Yes, unfortunately the day I can really play is Saturday. I used to play for a living and played every day. (35-40 hours per week). When I did that I practiced must stricter bankroll management.

I agree that I do not play my A game when I am playing 5/10. However, I did not play my A game when I first started playing 2/5. I think the only I ever going to play my A at 5/10 is gain experience. Hence, the shot taking... these are pretty rare. I have 269 sessions logged and only 7 of them are 5/10. lol... 269

If anything isn't clear, please free to ask again or let me know. Thank you for the post.

I'm basically doing the same thing as you but I play a few more days than you do. I also have the same problem with total separation of bankroll and life roll sometimes I dig in there to take money out for bills if I have a good week, but that's a bad habit that we both should kick.
I don't know how well your job pays, but my job pays enough to cover my exercises but it forces me to manage my money better which I'm still not that great at because I think " hey I got a big bankroll worst case scenario I take some money out of there".
What are you trying to accomplish goal wise? To move up to 5/10 and play that once a week? What's your long term poker plan and do you foresee it being a big part of your future financially? I'll be playing poker forever but I envision it being for fun and not for financial benefits later in life.
It's hard to discuss hand histories in depth because there are so many variables in play that only you will know what the optimal decision is based on game play. There are obv leaks to go over such as bet sizing vs stack sizes and the pot in hands but that can only help you so much. For example if I know someone doesn't fold top pair pot is 200$ and has 400$ behind I would just ship it with a bigger hand expecting a call, and that sounds nuts to some people..
I look forward to reading more. Gl at the tables.

[QUOTE=For example if I know someone doesn't fold top pair pot is 200$ and has 400$ behind I would just ship it with a bigger hand expecting a call, and that sounds nuts to some people...[/QUOTE]

Who finds that nuts? It sounds like you adjusted to your opponent’s tendencies and found a way to extract max value from the game. As long as you get called enough to justify the move. Well played.

I was actually thinking about my poker goals lately and why I play poker... I came to the conclusion that: I play poker to play more poker. It's a very weird thought. I really just want to play at the highest stake my bankroll will allow. I think I am just a competitive person who just enjoys winning. I usually don't spend very must of my winnings and deposit small amounts in the bank everyone and while. For example: In October, I won a small tournament. Four other people and I chopped. I pocketed 33 hundred something. I decided to treat myself with $150 dollar beats ear buds for the gym. That’s about extent of me splurging on myself.

For now: my job pays me more then I need. I just turned 26; I do not have any dependents and hardly any bills. A large portion of my income is disposable. I would like invest some money for the future thou. One of my goals for 2014 is to get a Roth IRA.

I actually used to pay all my bills with my poker income... mostly because it was my only income for a year. It's not bad; you just need to be very responsible about it. "Grind it out on your leather ass"

I fought the law and I won

It was a crisp fall night in 2013 and I was out with friends. Which night was it? Which day was it? Which month was? You are lucky I remember the year. The long week had finally come to an end and I was getting ****faced. I met with friends at beach house in Milford, Connecticut. We all had a couple before heading out to one of the local watering holes. Just as we were pulling into the park, I, of course, need to pee for the 20th time of the night. This is real problem for me when I drink. I pee frequently and always seem to be looking the nearest bathroom or dark corner. Tonight was night any different; I jumped out of the car and darted for a dark alley outside of the bar. When I found a safe secluded spot, I relieved myself. I zipped up and headed back the alley. When I got to the entrance of the alley there was a man standing there waiting for me. He asked me for my ID and in my inhabited state, I thought he was the bouncer. I was wrong.

After he took my ID, he said “Hold let me get my badge out.” I watched in horror as the plain clothes cop took out his badge and placed it around his neck.

A second cop pulled up in a cop car. The plain clothes cop (who looked like he was in his 20s) had me sit on curb and wait while he ran ID. He came gave me a ticket for $109 dollars for disturbing the peace and told me he was “doing me a favor” by not arresting me. I said nothing but “thank you sir” and headed into the bar. I couldn’t wait to plead not guilty and fight this bull****.

Fast forward three months or so later; my day in court had finally come. On December 30th I headed into the Milford courthouse for my 10am court appearance. I went thru the metal detector and got in line to see (who I assume is) the assistant district attorney. The attorney had baby face and could have passed for a teenager in court today for some kind of internship. I proceeded to plead my case.

After he heard me out he said “I am not going to bust your balls” and ripped up the ticket.

This victory against “the man” felt fantastic. And on top of all this, the day off from work gave me the opportunity to head to Foxwoods! Unfortunately, this was pretty much throw away session. Nothing really happened all day. The only hand worth mentioning was nice lay down I made. I had an over pair (kings) to a jack high bored. I raised preflop, I bet the flop and the turn. I was in position the whole way and on the turn I was checked raised all-in. The player who check raised me was a very passive player. On a pervious hand, he had a very powerful set and didn’t raise the river because “there was already enough money in the pot for me to be happy.” Folding my kings was easy. I ended the day down $48. Meh.

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Oh, is there no line at the cage?


I'll buy-in at the table, then sit and wait for my big blind

I guess the sayings' true. In the poker game of life, women are the rake man. They are the effin' rake.

So for the past couple month’s poker has taken a lesser role in my life. I have been studying less, playing less and updating this blog less. This has a combination of a couple a few different variables in my life. The first was boredom; I was little burnt out and kind of needed to take a break. You can only look at the same 52 cards so many times before the game starts to feel very repetitive. I think this boredom results in a player becoming complacent. They begin to think they know everything about everything. You fall into rut and your ability to think critically and creatively decrease.

The second variable has been the weather. I live in Connecticut. The weather conditions here (and most of the country) have been awful. I think have worked 5 or 6 four-day work weeks (snow related) this winter alone. It has hindered my ability (and my opponents) to make the hour and half trip to the casino for a little side game action.

The third and most influential has been a girl. I will make this section short because I do not want to be perceived as someone who wines and complains constantly about his troubled love life (even thou that’s what I’m about to do). And I will tie it back poker at the end… after all, this is a poker blog.

Anyways, I am not going use her name. I will refer to her as “L.” L is my ex; we dated for a while in college. She broke up with me and I have never been able to get over her. It been three years since then (pathetic of me, I know, but I can’t seem to shake her). She’s come back a couple times and we hook up, then she leaves again. However, this time was different. This time a foundation was built. It started about four months we started texting a little. Then we started emailing each other work. Soon, it was every day. Then it moved outside of work, we would talk a lot. It felt good, it felt like old times. L was very receptive; we would sometimes make plans to hang out. Eventually we did, had sex and she slept over. Then about two or three weeks ago she suddenly stopped talking to me. She didn’t answer my e-mails, texts or phone calls. I tried to find out why, she still wouldn’t answer.

Finally, on Thursday morning February 27th, I received a text from L at work. I pick up my phone and read a text that warns me to stop trying to contact her or she would not hesitate to go to the police. All the history we have together and this is what she says to me? I did not do anything to her to deserve this. I was acting the same as I did the past couple months. She did a complete 180 and then refused to give any explanation for her actions. To say the least I am very hurt and dumbfounded about the whole situation.

I was and still am not happy with entire situation. I have had a couple days to think about it and have come to this conclusion: L is cold hearted and very selfish. She has no regard for anyone, but herself and maybe her two dogs. She does not care in anyway what so ever about how I feel or how much she hurts me. I truly do not understand how a person could treat another person so horribly. A part of me might always love her, but I’m done. L burnt the bridge to the ground with what she said/did.

What does this have to with poker? It gives me form of clarity and focus. Sitting at the table made me realize how much I was actually neglecting the game to focus on her. I felt rusty at the table. I was missing angles that used to be very obvious to me in the past. I did not want to think about her, so double my focus at the felt.

I started to feel the rust coming off; my game was starting to improve. It was started to get back to normal. As the rust came off, I made a few mistakes. However, in my mistakes is where I found my real strength. After each mistake, I adapted and adjusted quickly. I was really showing off one my best poker assets: the ability to learn and grow as a player.

To be fair, I wasn’t learning anything new. I was just simply getting back to my A game. Some of mistakes I made were ones I had not made in years. So adjusting was “easy.” Never the less, I was proud of myself. I didn’t let distractions outside the felt affect my play. I also didn’t blame anyone or anything thing when I made a mistake. I never let pride affect me either. Never once did I think to myself “I am clearly the best player at the table; it was just luck that he won.” It was always my fault and there was always a better line that I could have taken.

I look forward to refocusing and committing myself to poker in the future. I am considering playing one deep stack event at the upcoming Foxwoods Poker Classic. The one I am most likely to play is the 600 NLH two day event on Saturday March 8th. Does anyone else plan on playing any of the tournaments at the FPC?

The Green Mile

I cannot bring myself to get up; I am sitting only ten feet away.
This is the longest walk ever; I am sitting only ten feet away.
I do not want to miss a hand; I am sitting only ten feet away.

Is there ever a longer walk then the walk to the poker room ATM. Every step feels is filled with anxiety, embarrassment, regret, uneasiness and many other unpleasant emotions. It is every poker player’s green mile. You might as well stand up and “Hey everyone! I just lost everything I have, I suck at poker!” Oh, and don’t forget about that 5 dollar service charge.

Personally, I avoid the casino ATM as best I can and it’s pretty rare for me to use it. I typically bring at least 4-5 buy-ins for the stakes I plan on playing that day. On Saturday, I was planning on playing 2/5 with a $500 max. I only had $1100 on me and was just simply too lazy to stop at the bank and take out a little bit more.

The morning was spent at a University’s open house. I am looking into going back to school and getting an MBA. After the open house I headed straight to Foxwoods. I was seated by 1:30 in the afternoon. By 2:30, I had gone through almost two buy-ins and had only a stack of 20 reds in front of me. I did not want to take my last $100 bill out of my pocket. If you are going to try and play a cash game with 40BB, you might as well light your cash on fire. I really didn’t want go to the ATM and I didn’t want to leave. So I sat there and folded.

I let about 3 orbits go by and actually managed to win a very small pot before I finally got up and made that dreadful walk to the ATM. I took out a grand, sat back down and put four brand new hundred dollar bills underneath my stack. I now had $504 in front of me (nobody said anything about adding $4 too much lol). I was now $1400 in the hole, I had some work to do.

I spent the next 3-4 hours playing very well. I didn’t let any of my losses affect my play what so ever. I game was disciplined and solid. For my efforts, I had about $600-$650 in front of me. I picked up small pots here and there. I folded early and did not invest in situations where I could not win. I was very happy with my play and felt my confidence rise. All previous losses were not completely out of head.

I sat at the table and played for another 5 hours or so. My total time at the table was 11 hours and 9 minutes. I managed to dig myself out of the hole and cash out a $204 profit. I am really proud of my sound solid play. It makes this small win feel like a million dollars.

I don’t have one epic hand that got me back to even. My come back was small and gradual. The biggest pot I was involved in was about $500 total. This makes detailing my session rather difficult. However, I took some notes on my phone of three interesting hands I was involved in. I will describe all three below:

First Hand: I am in the big blind and I have two Robins in the hole (Black Queens). One person limps in from middle position. The button raises to $35. The small blind calls and I 3-bet to $135. I do not like 3-betting out of position, but the dealer just had his AA cracked by A4 on the previous hand. It was likely he was tilting and I wanted to isolate him. The limper folded, the dealer called and small blind thought for a bit before finally throwing his cards into the muck. I started the hand with about $500 and my opponent had $367. The flop came 7c 3c Ks. I took a moment and then checked. My opponent took about 10seconds and then asked if it was his turn. Then he went all- in for $232. I took some time to think the situation thru.

Why I think I have the best hand:
1. Possibly titling from having his AA crack by A4 on the previous hand. He 3-bet his AA preflop, got 4 callers and flop came 10 4 4. The man with A4 bet all three streets and AA just called his down.
2. I’ve seem slow all his good hands. I saw slow play a set and top pair twice. For him, making a bet on the flop is unusual.
3. I showed weakness by checking and he may think he can just take down the pot right there.

Why I think I am behind:
1. This situation screams “I have AK.”
2. After he confirmed it was his turn, he instantly went all in. This is usually a sign of strength.
After taking all this into consideration (including hand range), I determine that there is a good enough possibility I have the best hand. I make the hero call.
He flips over AK, it holds up and I lose.

Second Hand: Seat 1 is under the gun, limps in, $467 behind. I have about $600, middle position, A4 of hearts and I limp in. The six of hearts is exposed. The two us and the blinds see flop, $20 total. Flop: 9h Qh Jh. I flopped a flush with one heart exposed, awesome! Both blinds check and seat 1 beats out 20. He’s a relatively tight conservative player and I think he will fold if I push him on a flop like this. I have position on him and decide its best to slow play. I call and the two blinds fold, we are heads up. The turn is an ace of clubs and he bets out $40. I consider raising him, but decide that keeping a slow line was the most profitable. The river is a 3 of spades. I have the second nuts. He bets out $82. This odd bet is clearly designed to get me to call. He is going to be really unhappy when I raise him. So I take my time deciding what is the most amount of money he will call. He has $325 left. Based on how he has seen me play at the table, he should think I’m a tight player. I raise to $177, that is $95 more for him to call. He hems and haws before making the call. He had k10 for a straight. My flush is good. I feel like I played this hand really well and got the max out of my opponent.

Third Hand: This hand really isn’t anything special. I am including it in my blog because I think I discovered a useful little move that I can use (did use) to freeze my opponent. I limped in under the gun with A10 of diamonds. The player directly on my left (seat 4) raised to $20. Seat 4 is loose and is here to gamble. Two other players called and the blinds folded. The pot is $87. The flop came out 6c 7c 10s. I was first to act and checked. This flop has too many possibilities to lead out in first position. I think it’s better to observe my opponent’s actions and the react accordingly. The original raiser bets out $40. The player in seat 5 is a very weak player, he calls. I call, despite the strength of my hand. I prefer this not escalate with two more cards to come. The turn is a blank, a red 3. I check. Seat 4 bets out $100. Seat 5 folds. It comes to me and I take a moment to think about the situation. The pot $307. I think I have the best hand. Seat 5 has about $450 left. However, he has position and do not want him to try and blast me off the hand if I check the river and straight/flush card comes. So I decide to try something new, I call and check blind, attempting to freeze his bet. The river is Qs, a pretty safe card for my hand. My opponent lets out a sigh and checks. Since there was no river bet, I have to turn my hole cards first. Upon seeing my cards, he throws his hand into the muck. My 10s are good. I’m pretty sure that my blind river check on a draw heavy board froze my opponent. I wish I could have forced him to show me his cards so I can better analyze the play. I will keep this play in mind and look for an opportunity to try it again in the future.