Just read thread and my first thought was to tell you to just quit poker because wife>poker.

Glad to see that you are working out some compromises that you can both live with. Now that she sees you are playing vs other players not the casino you can start to teach her the game a little so she can she how much strategy there is. Then the next step is to REALLY learn the game yourself so next year you can tell her the goal is to make 1K playing poker and not budget 1K

GL

Well here's my first bloggy-style post.

1. If you like NLHE or PLO and you live in the US, you should seriously check out that Global Poker site you've been seeing advertised in the banners. It's totally US-legal because you don't have to risk penny one of your own money - you can look under "Terms and Conditions" for their AMOE (alternate method of entry) and they will give you $30 per month of free money - you can either immediately cash it out or put it on the poker tables. The play is almost play-money soft.

2. I'm considering learning short-stacked NL. Since Global is so soft I've been using it to practice. Here's a thread with the discussions I've had with other live players:

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/17...ve-nl-1662620/

3. One week from today I leave for the Poker Cruise. AAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH it's going to be the longest week of my life!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sitting on the cruise ship right now, sipping coffee and just watching the ocean go by - it is not possible to put into words how relaxing this is to someone who hasn't done it. Do yourself a favor and put it on your bucket list.

I've also been blessed with a roommate who has been playing poker for almost 50 years and really seems to know his stuff. I was playing online this morning and started telling him about a hand I played and as soon as I said the preflop action he interrupted me and asked, "and what were their stacksizes? How had they been playing?" and other questions like that - I'm looking forward to spending the whole week picking his brain.

As far as the poker on the cruise, I decided to play LHE last night. I only played for about 2 hours, but I think I was the only player at the table who EVER raised before the flop. 4 to 7 people were seeing flops. The villains were playing tight passive postflop - I double-barrelled AJs OOP on a K37Ktt board, checked the river, villain checked behind, I turned over my AJs she turned over KQo. I just smiled, laughed and said WHOAH I just got ropeadoped .

Another funny moment was when I raised QJo on the button after 3 limpers, both blinds and all limpers called and I flopped 89Ttt. A 3rd of the suit hit the river but my hand held up. I turned it over and said, "I flopped a Johnny Chan". Everybody looked at me like, "HUH?" I said, "Who's seen the movie Rounders?!?!?!?" The dealer looked at me and said, "NEVER!" as obviously sarcastic as possible.

So anyway, I still have the itch to give shortstacking NLHE a try but as long as the 3/6 game is that juicy it's going to be hard for me to leave my safety net.

I'm going to keep posting until people tell me to shut up!

Do you argue back at wife? Or what she says go's?

Seems like you have good head and would not blow money not afford

Can't be told what you can do just because she no clue about poker

Grown man you know if it is affecting you or not

Post seems like you are her child.

Nobody's going to tell you to shut up bec many of us are invested in your success, I know that I am. Keep it up!

Sorry man but your wife sounds like a major problem.

Blog post #3 Thur May 4 2017

My roommate has been an unbelievable blessing - my game has tangibly improved just from being able to discuss hands with him every day for 5 days. I *have* sat down to play shortstacked NLHE 3 times this week. The first time I lost my $100 buyin because I didn't do what my roommate said (got bored and played trash hands). The next 2 times I played I doubled my buyin both times because - you guessed it - I did what my roommate said. As is expected, once I double my buyin and am sitting on a 66bb stack instead of a 33bb stack I'm suddenly lost, so at that point I cash out and go over to the LHE table (telling everybody "back to the minors!" as I rack up my chips and leave)!

I'm still owning the LHE tables. I still raise before the flop more than the rest of the table put together. Yes, it means they're occasionally limpcalling AK, AQ, QQ or AA (yes, AA!!!) but usually they're calling with worse. Pretty much the entire rest of the table is still playing passive. They're simply getting no value from big hands because they're just checking and calling. When I make big hands I bloat the pot like I'm trying to grow mushrooms after a bad rain.

And, of course, I'm immensely enjoying myself on the cruise! Can't wait to celebrate Cinco de Mayo tomorrow when the ship stops in Cozumel!

Further bulletins as events warrant.

I mean, six figures and playing $4/$8, how are you going to take the game that seriously when the game is for peanuts for you? You are far too restricted financially to put the focus you need into the game. You should have no budget, and play about 15 hours a week for stakes that matter to you, and hire a coach for $100 an hour, probably like 2 hours a week, and master it, or just give-it-up, because this recipe will, in my humble opinion, lead to a bingo approach to poker where you weakly limp under the gun w QJ and hope to connect, chase the overs, and sometimes get some chips back. From what it sounds like, your wife will never let you put that much energy into poker, so for the sake of your marriage, I'd skip poker, and take up opera (love opera), theatre, or other activities that are more husband-and-wife. I do think this will put a significant strain on your marriage. Trying to do both with this much restriction is not going to lead to a good poker game.

It may be worth the risk to lie to her.

Never getting married, best you can do is chop, and often you get scooped. I couldn't handle this much restriction.

Currently reading Real Poker Psychology by Mason Malmuth. This quote reminds me of your wife.

When you win, why buy drinks? If you do, it should be taken from your bankroll. Otherwise you're re-enforcing this myth that a poker table works like an ATM machine. You do not really have a bankroll but rather a gambling budget. For the life of me I have no idea what I'd do in your shoes. Probably pull my hair out. Though, I started winning with $1/$2 limits online during the poker boom with limited literature, and I think a big part of it was because every bet mattered to me, and I didn't have $500 to my name at the time. I don't think you truly feel the "sting of battle". I think I would give poker up if I were you. The fun is not in the time spent compared to recreational activities. The fun is in winning and playing poker better than your opponents.

I agree with this point. Young grinders and pros have a great desire to win. Rich businessmen do not. They may think they do, but it's definitely not the same thing. Often times poker becomes a war of attrition to see who's going to crack and make a mistake. If you are really really hungry you're gonna stay more focused and more patient in spots where it may not be so easy. If the money doesn't mean anything you're bound to have moments where you're just like "**** it" and in poker it only takes 1 of those moments to completely change a session.

It's one of the reasons I have quit poker (or tried my best to). Even if I have a higher level understanding of the game than the other players, if the stakes don't matter I can be a favorite to lose money. One of the best pros I've ever played with quit poker and started a company which he grew to a few hundred employees in a very short period of time. He doesn't play poker much anymore, but when he does he's pretty much drawing dead.

leavesofliberty and Dream Crusher, I totally disagree with both of you.

In my opinion, if a millionaire is playing .01/.02 NL on pokerstars, bets 21c on a river and gets raised to 63c, thinks to himself "I know this nit only raises the river with the nuts but I want to see it - I'll pay him 42 cents", that person simply has no competitive drive, simply doesn't actually want to win and uses "Oh, the money doesn't matter to me" as an excuse to avoid the truth - the truth being that they simply have no self-discipline.

When you're playing tennis, the right side of the court is wide open to where all you have to do is tap the ball into the corner to win the point, do you think to yourself, "You know what? Just for the fun of this I'm going to crush the ball as hard as I can - there's no money riding on this match so it doesn't matter, I'm going to have fun crushing this ball and if I lose the point I don't care"?

Playing with money that "matters to you" is HORRIBLE advice, and I mean worse advice than open-shoving 72o UTG. Playing $1/$2NL live when you have less than $500 TO YOUR NAME is absolutely abominably bad. BRM guidelines exist for a reason. Your ENTIRE POKER BANKROLL should be purely recreational money that you don't need for anything else but poker.

Just my two cents.

You want to first find the weakest opponents you can for the lowest rake. I'm thinking convince the misses into making a cigar room where you invite your fellow business friends to play NLH, and you're basically on even footing and you have some space in your marriage without having to lie, etc.

$1/ $2 limit btw not nl.

Poker is not like tennis. I am currently reading this, and this an analogy used time and time again. So far it is a decent read.

There is a difference between a bankroll and a gambling budget. 4/8 requires 2400 for a better than average player to play comfortably. 1000 a year is a gambling budget that not a bankroll. And if you buy drinks out of it it's definitely not a bankroll. I believe you do have to ante up to play poker properly something more than what you describe as peanuts to get better.

Your pokerstars example is not a valid comparison to the grind that is live poker. It's much easier to fold hands online than it is in a live setting where you are getting ~25 hands/hr. Also, it's not the easy spots where this is necessarily an issue. It's the spots where you can convince yourself the villain could be bluffing, and the spots where you can justify your poor play.

Anyways, I'm not advocating that you quit, or that you play outside an allocated bankroll, or that you aren't capable of winning..although, you do fit the general profile of many losing players. I know very few wealthy players that do well at poker. This includes players with high competitive drives that I've played with such as professional athletes.

Consider Michael Jordan, one of the most competitive people on the planet. Whether he was playing a pickup game or a playoff game he was always playing to win. That being said, you're crazy if you think pickup game Michael Jordan was on the same level as playoff Michael Jordan. Whenever the pressure was on and the moment was of great importance, he was able to raise his game to a higher level.

The middle aged recreational player that doesn't need the money isn't likely to win the war of attrition vs the 18 year old casino grinder whose other employment option involves delivering pizza. Good luck folding when you've been sitting there for 4 hours completely card dead and you finally pickup AA or KK and the annoying guy probably has you beat.

Live $4/$8 is not a particularly difficult grind. You just don't play very well, and if it is not that the stake is too low to matter then there is a reason. It is a very beatable game. I mean perhaps it's okay to lose a hundred bets or more while picking up the game, but even middle aged people can learn to beat it. They just don't, and only about 5% of people who win. Coaching isn't really going to do it. Taking a balanced approach to the game with an honest assessment of your game, a memory that will allow you to recall hands, and other skills will make you a winner. There are many who fit in the category "lucky in love, not at cards", which is where I believe you'll remain.

Bill Gates loses at $5 blackjack. He has no competitive drive, except he founded Microsoft. Poker world isn't like how you describe.

Bloggy post 05/09/2017

Ended the cruise up $250 - yay! Key points:

1. I am majorly susceptible to boredom tilt, especially when I play the shortstack strategy in NLHE. It revealed to me that I do occasionally suffer from boredom tilt in LHE as well, and overrate my relative skill level to the rest of the table as a justification for playing hands like J9o that are not profitable. So learning NLHE shortstacking is going to help my LHE game, but I have work to do to overcome boredom tilt if I'm going to shortstack NLHE live.
2. I need to gradually work up to transitioning to NLHE live if I in fact do. For me, making an $8 bet 10 times is a totally different world than making an $80 bet once. Also, if I make a mistake at an NLHE table one mistake could cost me my whole stack instead of just costing me $8 or $16 or whatever - a little scary.
3. I *might* have a leak in LHE where I try too hard to make all of the villains fold. They *do* all fold sometimes, so it's not like it's not *ever* worth doing. I just need to look at my game and make sure I'm doing it on the right types of boards and with the right frequency, i.e. if there's 8BB in the pot and there's a 1 in 8 chance both villains fold if I bet it's a good bet, and the probability is higher on boards where there are draws on the flop and turn that missed on the river.
4. Not sure when I'll be next making a trip to the casino. Erst the while I'm going to continue practicing the shortstack strategy on Global Poker and possibly even play some uLHE on Ignition.

Further bulletins as events warrant - or when I feel like it!

funny how everyone thinks poker is X. Poker is a lot of different thinks to different people(job, intulectual challenge, leisure, gambling.........)

@OP

Starting to think about switching to NLH isn't a bad idea if you have longer term/bigger aspirations for your poker. Unfortunately LHE is a dying game.

You should also be aware if you are going to short-stack to double up/hit and run you will not be very popular with the regs in your home casino.

playing micro NLH online is great way to get tons of practice in cheaply

Same reason I quit, money you play for is not much there is no point as you will make to many mistakes

Lost my roll on soft site that hit and run and tried grind on stars

Like watching grass grow full good p!Ayers and the grind when you played higher before is so much harder as the pots don't have the same meaning if they are not
Going to give you that buzz that higher stakes gave you.

Bloggy-style post 05/19/2017

First and foremost, it is evidence that my neurotransmitter efficiency has decreased significantly that I just now noticed that bloggy-style rhymes with doggy-style! I'm normally right on top of opportunities for bad jokes!

You all might find this funny - my wife was reading a book to my daughter about a cartoon character (Maisy) touring London. One page of the book showed Maisy and his friends in a water taxi. She complained, "You never took *me* on a water taxi when we were in London!" I said, "What are you talking about??? We took a boat tour up and down the river Thames!" she said, "Wanna bet?" I said, "Okay, if I'm right I get to go to the casino" She said, "If you're wrong you have to go with me to get a pedicure and paint your toenails pink!". I went to Facebook and pulled up our photo album from that trip and won the bet 20 seconds later so I'm going to Winstar this Sunday!

I'm actually planning to get there early (like noon or shortly thereafter) so that I can put in a good session and still get home at a reasonable hour. I know that Sundays aren't peak times, but if I sit at a table and realize there are no bad players at it I'll just get up and go for a walk - for those of you not familiar with Winstar it's HUGE.

I might even sit down at a 1/2NL table with $80, play the shortstack strategy as long as possible and see how that goes. If it goes badly I can still go to the 4/8LHE table.

Hope everyone has a good weekend! Happy Friday!

Getting a pedicure w/ the wife sounds like a pretty good idea to me even if you end up w/ pink toe nails. Try to win enough to pay for it while you're at it.