Long sessions are over rated. Adults can only maintain concentration for about an hour at a time on a specific task. I generally take a 5-10 minute break or so every hour of play. My biggest wins are usually in about 4 hour sessions. If you are playing your best poker, you need to be watching every hand, and when you start pushing 5-6 hours, most people get fatigued. There's more to be learned at the table when you're not in the hand, and if you find yourself drifting to the TV or smartphone, you're giving up your edge as a perceptive player.

Don't worry about playing long sessions, play as long as you feel good about the game and as long as the table is profitable. Cash is so different, there's no defined end like an MTT. You set the limit for yourself and then play as long as you have an edge.

I completely agree. If I ever get stacked at a casino I always leave. It's difficult for me to concentrate after getting stacked. My records also show that if I have to top up or add on another $100, it probably isn't going to end well either.

I took it another step, probably too crazy but I have a 10% stop loss rule. It usually comes in the form of losing my first hand. If I take a 10% loss on my original buy in, I try to leave. For me, I notice that winning breeds winning and loosing breeds loosing. If i win my first pot, I usually play my best. If I lose my first pot, I usually start to play bad.

Vegas is so easy to walk or go to a new casino and start all over.

I'm all set for the Phamous event! I'm doing the heads up tournament and I can't wait. It has a cap of 64 players so I went down there today to sign up. It's the only event I can do this weekend but that's ok, it's still something to look forward to!

That sounds fun! I've never played a HU tourney, in for after action report.

I just finished 18 holes at Bali Hai. We finished by playing 17 in near darkness and 18 in TOTAL darkness. 18 damn near took us 30 minutes to play because we had to hunt down each other's golf balls. Fortunately I use yellow Titleist DT Solo which made it a little easier (don't be hating, there's a specific reason I use this ball!).

My golf buddy and I were hooping and hollering throughout the last hole having a great time out there. We even used our iPhones for lighting to take swings. I haven't had so much fun in a while! I was genuinely laughing and smiling out there even though we almost crashed the cart a couple times!

Tonight reminded me of how thankful I am for the great life God has given me. I'm 37 and getting to experience things that are just so amazing and I am grateful.

"Seeds of discouragement cannot take root in a grateful heart".

From the 18th tee box


Even though I use a yellow ball it was still hard to find!

If you must use a yellow ball, Srixon makes an actual yellow ball that doesn't feel like a lump of granite when you hit it. Z Star yellow. C'mon!

I know this sounds like bunk, but I can ABSOLUTELY pick out Titleist yellow. Another golf partner uses Srixon yellow and a lot of range balls are yellow. I've been playing them so long, I can pick my ball from a field of yellow at fiddy paces

True story: I played the Callaway Warbirds for a long time. One day I was going to play in a men's tournament at my country club in Palm Springs. I went to the head pro and told him that I was tired of the Warbirds and wanted a new ball. He said, "I've seen your game and I remember our lessons. You should try the Titleist DT Solo." and he then proceeded to comp me a sleeve of them.

I used them that day and on the 5th hole I got a hole-in-one! My hand to God, my first day playing with a DT Solo and I got a HIO! It was witnessed by three playing partners, they gave me a trophy, put my name up in the club on a plaque and my name was in the paper too. I get them at WalMart and I buy them in sets of 5-dozen. It's the only ones I buy and I'll never play another golf ball again.

Alright, you win. I've never hit an ace, and damn well wouldn't change a thing if I had either.

I've been missing golf...was never really good though and have not played in 10+ years...maybe this year I take it back up.

I got my HIO during the worst part of my life ever - divorce.

During my divorce, I only played golf and prayed. That's it. I rarely showed up for work, hated taking calls from my lawyers (I had THREE of them). I just hit the range at 6AM every day, hit 500 balls and prayed. I even had memberships to two country clubs at the same time. Who the fawk does that?!?!? The HIO came during that period.

In conclusion, get divorced, pray, pay expensive lawyers, get a HIO

You should man! There's a ton of good courses out here that are just so beautiful. I'm sure it wouldn't take much to get you back to "fighting weight"

I miss golf terribly. Such a time and money sink, but such a great game. Talk about a mental game, there's nothing like golf to test you vs yourself. At my very best '07-'09 I was playing to a 12, it was pretty fun at that level, but it's never enough and I hit a brick wall with my short game and got pretty hard on myself. Then it got less fun. I've been out of the game for a while less a couple of 'fun' rounds per year but would be willing to hack it around a bit, especially with the prime golf weather upon us.

I think a skins game would be something fun. Beer would need to be involved as well.

Getting down to a 12 is not easy, good for you! Dust off your clubs and let's go play somewhere . For the last 10 years, I've been fortunate to live in places with great courses (Palm Springs & Las Vegas). It's just so calming to get out there and enjoy the beauty of the courses.

I'm late to the party. Just binge read all of the posts. Regarding the 76s hand, no matter how much you love suited connectors, two of the worst plays in holdem are to flat a raise from mp or limp early with a marginal hand. You're putting yourself in position to be trounced by the players who will act behind you.

Conversely, flatting on the button or from the CO can be a very good for play if you go into it with a plan -- to flat the flop against a CBet and take it down on the turn when checked to you, even if you have air at that point.

Thanks for reading my report. It's a sign of how long it's been around when I can't remember the hand that you're referring to I'll have to go back and read my notes on that one.

Man, I am feeling SO good this morning. I worked hard early in the week for both my clients and PSU so that I could free up today and do nothing but play poker!!! After tonight I'll be on lock-down until my grad course exam is done (I did a study group last night and exam comes out first thing tomorrow). But today, I have nothing but poker on the brain.

On the schedule is the start of the Phamous Series - I'm doing Event #1, the heads-up tournament. It's a cap of 64 players, done bracket style. I have a little bit of my ego coming out this morning, so I think that's perfect for this kind of event. I slept well, cooked myself a great breakfast and just took a long, steamy shower, shaved, packed my bag. So I feel like I'm poised to run deep today. Of course, if the worst should happen I'll be mid-Strip and can jump into other games/tourneys. But the only thing on my mind right now is taking down Event #1

My mind is 100% clear, I have no stress, no worries and I am ready to win!

ship it!! glglgl

B

GL Luck!

Let's get the cards in the air!

Eliminated in first round . I was in the second-to-longest match. So I think I held my own pretty well.

We had some good back and forth. My A7 held on to his A5 only to be crushed a couple of hands later by my AK not improving against his JJ. I was up at that point and could have taken the match. So that sucked. All in against JJ I was pretty excited

Final hand had me running my A8 against his AK. I probably gave too many walks and I should reconsider that next time.

I'm eliminated but no need to go home yet! Now I'm waiting for the Aria 1pm to start. Poker Degen Day continues!!!

They come in white I believe

You obviously didn't read the part about the HIO. Why mess with a winning formula?

I know this goes back to near the beginning of the thread (just read the whole thing and cheering you on!), but I also agree with people who say that tracking tips is of limited utility. I consider tips to be the same as rake and since the money amounts that you track are always post-rake (and post tip) then I guess the tip amount is just something to keep track of just as an interesting stat? Like if you say you ended up +$100 in a session, that includes the fact that you paid maybe $20 in rake and $5 in tips. It would be interesting if the software let you track the rake as well though I assume that would be a pain in the ass since you have to track every single pot you win and figure out how much rake was taken.

I treat it more than just an "interesting stat" - it's a business expense that cuts into my profits. The difference between rake & tip is that I can only do so much about rake (don't play in rooms with a jackpot drop) but I can always look to lower my tips.

Again, it's all about the scale of things. If you come into Vegas for the weekend, drink & tip all you want, you can only do so much damage to your bankroll. But when you're talking about potentially doing hundreds and hundreds of hours, then you must keep track of things like tips (and keep them low!).

Lower tips to bring up your bankroll. Haha lmk how that works out for you.