Poker Forum

Thanks frost, a good run would be awful nice! If I could make atleast 300 I'll be freerollin on one hell of a trip, so that's the goal! And anything extra could just go to my new computer, I think I'm going to get some type of lenovo, cuz they're built pretty durable from what I've heard.

We're stayin at excalibur, which is really close to the orleans, so I'll probably head over there and start the trip with some O8, and switch to nl hold em if I want a change of pace! Limit hold em is just too boring and streaky live, so the only way I'll be playing that is in the hotel room if I've been running real bad, and the desert air dries up all the alcohol in vegas.

Cheers,
Chad

couple of my buds are out there for march madness whats it like out there right now man. The place should be filling in pretty soon. The games start on Thursday morning!

It's crazy out here, I've been having a blast. So many spring breakers and basketball fanatics.

Ugh, pain. ...... I played all night last night, and I was on my a game like I've never been before live, then I just fell into bad spot after bad spot. Nobody likes to hear about someone else's bad luck, so I'll spare y'all and I should have gotten out of 2 spots for about half what it cost me, but ya I'm down 125 on the trip but feelin good today and ready to turn it around!

Cheers,
Chad

Plus almost 450 on the day, up 325 for the trip from poker, so I'm only short about 75 bucks with all expenses taken into consideration! Had an absolute blast and got so much better at live nl hold'em, I think I'll end up making a lot more in future trips to the local casino as a result, so even if I'd lost the knowledge and experience I gained would have been worth it!

I got to see a game in Bobby's room at the Bellagio, so I was pretty stoked about that! Eli Elezra was playing and i didn't recognize the other 4. The only thing I wish I would have done different is bet one of the games while I was here.

Cheers
Chad

hahahahaha sounds like you had a blast dude. Im already all set to head out next march when I turn 21. If you go out there next march man let me no would love to meet up and grab a drink . Your an interesting player I like reading your stories. You seem to have an extremely flushed thought process

I'm already planning on heading back out next spring break, so ya we'll def have to meet up if we're there at the same time next year!

It is taking me a little bit to get back into the swing of online poker. I've been overly aggressive at limit, so I need to tone it down before I bleed off any more of my bankroll 3 barrelling air into middle pair.
I decided to get a month subscription to deuces cracked, I want to learn to play heads up nl really well. I watched a video series by Bones called Two Men Enter on DC and I think that really helped. I lost a couple husngs, then watched some of the series and have won my last 4 (mostly just running better but I feel like I've actually been playing better too). I think his note taking template that he copies and pastes in at the beginning and fills out as he goes has been the biggest help. Its really appealing that heads up is where you can exploit a big advantage over a player the most, and all the biggest bb/100 and a lot of the top winners at 25c/50c nl are heads up players. So ya, I'm jumping back on the hunl horse and gonna give it a better effort this time.

cheers,
Chad

Ran really good yesterday! New bankroll $1023. Made a good bit multi-tabling 1/2 limit, then decided I wanted to play some nl holdem sng's for practically the first time ever. I accidentally got in one $20 double or nothing, and 1 ten dollar LHE sng, I meant to get one 20 dollar sng and seven 10 dollar NLHE sngs, but yeah I ran pretty well and basically just ran over every table I was at. I lost the vast majority of all ins I was in, but I had most people covered from stealing every other hand. I ended up busting 4 winning 3 and getting second in 1. I lost 4 races in a row to get second in the one, and I lost 2 races to the same guy where he was all in while it was 3 handed, but ya I was happy with my play and I might add some sngs to the mix in the future.

Have you guys been watching season 6 of high stakes poker? If they could just get phil galfond in the mix I think it would basically be all of the best players in the world at one table, and Ivey and Dwan are still just killing it. Really fun to watch, especially Dwan, I'd swear he can see everyone's cards.

cheers,
Chad

Alright I have a really crazy idea, and I'd love to get some feedback from you all on it. I have been looking for an internship and have quickly found that almost everyone has cut their internship program, and the companies that still have one require a 3.0 minimum GPA and I have a 2.9, so I am screwed. I would really hate to get a meaningless summer job, therefore I am seriously considering just playing poker this summer as my only source of income as long as I have established myself at $2/4 limit (I have atleast $2000 in my account. My parents still pay for my car insurance, cell phone bill, and a few of those type things, so I only need to make $800 per month on the high end to cover my living expenses.

I have currently beat 1/2 limit for a little over 2.23 bb/100 over 11000 hands (small sample, but I think its accurate to within 1bb/100), if I beat $2/4 limit for .75 bb/100 8-tabling then I would need to play 1.85 hours per day (not including any bonuses I receive from the VIP program) to cover all my living expenses. I think .75 is a little low, and if both bb/100 numbers were accurate it would make more sense to keep playing 1/2, but ya I need to make this calculation on the safe side. I will probably average a little closer to 4 hours of play per day, and 2 hours learning and improving my game each day. I would also earn roughly 120,000 fpps if I averaged 3 hours per day which would be a sizable bonus. I would make about $14.40 per hour under this scenario and be doing something I enjoy.

Worst case scenario is I go bust on my poker account and I have to dip into my savings from mowing a ton of lawns in high school for my living expenses, but I think this is a fairly small risk and one that I am willing to take to give this whole idea a whirl. More reasonable worst case scenario is I lose for a little bit and get a lot better at poker, I would consider myself a smart individual and the information is out there for someone to learn to beat the game if they are very determined, which I am. I still don't think I'd ever want to be a pro poker player, but for a summer it might be fun and a great learning experience. It could also end up being too stressful and make the game not fun, in which case I'd get some kind of meaningless job for the remainder of the summer.

Thanks for reading, this is a pretty big decision.

cheers,
Chad

If I read that right you are saying you only need to play 3 hours a day, so you could still get a summer job.

I'm not commenting on the poker aspect, but a life aspect. With a 2.9 gpa you need to think about resume building. I don't think playing poker is going to help you in that respect and having a blank in your job history for the summer isn't going to look that good. If you don't want to work at a "nothing" job, even volunteering in something would be better than nothing, especially if it relates to your studies. Or you could consider part-time work.

Just my 2 cents.

Thanks frost, I just talked to my mom and she had a similiar view, I think I'll pick up like 10 lawns to mow during the summer, that would alleviate the stress of having to win and would give me something active to fill out the rest of my day. Mowing would be perfect cuz I kind of enjoyed it in high school, it pays really well per hour and is very flexible with whatever schedule. If I get felted 3 times in a row that would be a great way to blow off some steam. Thanks again for your input!

Way off topic, but genearal question, do you think a lot of poker players use some kind of attention deficit medication to enhance their ability to play focused for extended periods, anyone in college knows that the stuff works awesome if you need to study for a long time regardless of whether or not you have ADD or not. Seems like it'd be a huge edge in a long tournament.

Cheers,
Chad

Roflmao man alive man alive man alive you living my life lol I just read your latest blogs and this is priceless I got a good laugh when you brought cutting lawns into the picture to. This is funny. You truly are living and going through everything I did when I was playing poker seriously lol. Only difference is you seem to be a cash game player and I made my earnings on 45 man tourneys and MTTs. But heres my say.


So the hole mowing the lawn thing. Yea that... thats awsome because that was exactly what I was doing to make sure I had money lol. I cut lawns all the time to make sure I could keep up with a loss at the tables. And now that its getting nicer out im already lining more lawns up for the summer. So im 100% with you on mowing lawns that will save your ass a lot and it gives you a lot of time to think about your play and what you want to reach with your roll.


And yea I defintly looked into the hole medication thing also. I was taking this seriously and wanted to have a clear mind. I drank a lot of Vitamin Water. (Focus,SYNC) were my two favorites for poker. But Energy was also another choice I had.
I even experimented with the anxiety pills and shit to see if they could put a damper on things and they actually did work. They made getting up for school a lot less stressfull and made playing online a lot less stressful.

I would recommend checking out the pill department though lmfao. I used to play 30-70MTTS a day and those things get outta control. On wild nights where I was just pumped outta my mind I could reel out 100 tourneys a day

Thanks, that's too crazy! Yeah, I mowed lawns from from 8th grade through freshman year of college, and generally took on about 20 lawns and a neighborhood common area that I did on a weekly basis, so it was really good money, and I think that would be a great way to kill the stress both physically from doin the work and mentally from making some outside money, and allow me to put more money towards my bankroll to keep moving up stakes.

I'm not going to start taking aderol or anything to help with my poker, but for someone who needs to put in a lot of volume I can see it being a huge edge. My sister is prescribed aderol and I've taken it a couple times before a big test that i was screwed for, and it works crazy good.

I think watching Deuces Cracked videos makes me too aggressive. I'm building big pots out of position, then firing bullets at people who have a pair, and ultimately bleeding money. My profit in $1/2 games comes from people calling too much with weak hands, so to exploit that weakness I need to have a hand more often than not, and have position if I'm going to try to barrel through and get a fold. I am playing bad, and it has been shown in my recent results. I'm going to fix it, and play the best poker I can regardless of what the cards throw my way. No calling when I'm pissed that the worst card in the deck hit, and I know they have it. No 3-barreling 4's and raising a donk bet on an ace hi flop because i should be able to represent it. I am going to fully exploit the general 1/2 player's weakness and make every decision the best I can without completely irrational emotion playing a role. Time to grind.

cheers,
Chad

The $1 $2 games are extremely soft. You just have to get into a good grove when your playing. Over play the shit outta your hands when your strong. And play Position like crazy.

From my sessions for the last 2 weeks, my top 3 losing sessions were 10+ tables and totaled at least 650 hands (2 were 900 and something), my top 3 winning sessions were 250-400 hands of 8 tables. So from 3 winning sessions ago on, I'm going to pick a number of hands to play between 250 and 400, then take at least a 15-30 minute break before doing it all over again.

Yeah Despise, sometimes I just try to get too fancy, I'll put him on AK, check raise, then barrel the turn and river with air, and get pissed when I get called down by AK, then I'm tilted and start playing bad. When I should be completely adjusted to this scenario by now, and I'm the idiot for making this play against him, maybe as I move up a bunch getting a little fancier will become a better idea, but its def a good idea to stick with the game I'm playing as I move up until it isn't working anymore. The last few sessions I've played I decided I was going to play 250 hands, then take a break, and I just kept everything real simple, aggressive in position, thinking through how to get max value out of my good hands, and dumping my air balls before they cost me too much. I'm back up to $1100, knockin on the door for moving back up again, and I'm feeling really confident in my game.

cheers,
Chad

I tried that multitable hand session thing also like your doing awhile back. I did it on stars. Would play 4-8 cash games all 6 handed ones. I found that the first 450 hands were the strongest. Then you would go dry for 600 hands.Once you go to 1050-1100 you would go on a small run but once you hit 1300 hands in one session everything would go down hill fast until you hit 2000 hands.

Another thing I noticed at the cash games was being able to spot the multitablers like me who only played basic ABC straight poker.But I dont play straight forward tight solid poker like the full time cash game guys do. Ill play anything as long as I no what my opponents range is. I have the ability to spot the ABC straight players and force them off of hands. I could figure out if they were just c-betting to try and represent strength by reraising them on the flop if they raised it preflop. I could exploit the weaknesses of the multitablers efficently because I new there ranges and what they were willing to bet. Its basic though if they keep betting hard they have it. Unlike me though I could keep betting hard with rags knowing they were thinking the same thing I was thinking about them.


Its a long chess match

I know exactly what you're saying, this guy named chokol8ice has made about $11,000 playing 1/2 limit, but he plays about 16 tables, so any time I'm in a pot with him I just try to play the hand the way most $1/2 players play the nuts. I'll call the flop, then raise the turn, and he's almost always folding, and if I do have a hand, I know he's aggressive enough that he's almost always 3 barreling, so I'll smooth call twice then raise the river. Over 200 hands I've made $40 from the guy, and i don't have a picture for my Pokerstars icon, so I wouldn't be surprised if he hasn't even noticed that I'm making a LOT of plays on him.

Booked another solid win, 260 hands, about $75 profit, new roll $1168, I feel like I'm running good and playing better. I just wish one $29 pot where I had top two pair and a guy runner runnered his flush would have gone the other way, then I'd be moving on up, but ya that's poker and one more good session should do it! Time to study for an hour or two, then another 250 hand session.

I bumped my table limit back up to 2/4, so sometime tomorrow I should be allowed to play 2/4, I think I'll work into it slowly, still play 8 tables, but make half 2/4 and half 1/2 or something like that and add more 2/4 tables if my bankroll goes up, and take off a couple if I lose at first. I'll go straight 1/2 if I get down to 1050, and straight 2/4 if I get up to 1400, and adjust as necessary in between.

I'm a little less than 1500 vpps from hitting platinum star, and I figure that's worth about $50 worth of fpps for next month, so I'm not really sure whether its worth it to grind it out, or if i should just chill and wait till I'm playing $2/4 and I don't have to put in more time than normal to get it.

cheers,
Chad

Bumped up today on 3 of my 8 tables, and I'm headed back down already, dropped 150 bucks real quick on my damn $1/2 tables, I won 37% of the time at showdown. It was pretty ugly. Actually finished up a little bit on the $2/4 tables, but yeah, back to the grind till I make it back to $1200.

cheers,
Chad

I am getting killed at showdown, I've had 5 sessions or so in a row now, where my won at showdown percentage has just been awful. I still feel like I'm playing well but my top pair hands are just getting killed on the turn and river.

I think this could make me extremely exploitable against an observant player, but I'm thinking about dumping all my hands to a raise unless I have 2 pair or better, I've just been getting demolished on my top pair hands, and it always plays out the same way. EX: AK for me flop A J 4, they check call the flop, check raise the turn, I call them down, they have a set of 4's. I just keep getting eaten alive by these situations, and I rarely catch a bluff when the hand plays out this way. Ugh, I'm running so streaky lately. I think there's just a quick sand pit around $900, and the further I get away from it one way or the other, the faster it sucks me back in. Bankroll $898.

cheers,
Chad

Hmm, just got to thinking, if I'm beating the game right now for a little under 2 BB/100, and every session of 250-300 hands I do something and go well crap, I definitely shouldn't have paid him off there, or whatever the really obvious mistake happens to be, then if I played like 6 tables instead of 8, but really thought through how the hand played out and took notes on my opponents tendencies and ranges, it seems like I'd be able to atleast improve my win rate by half a BB/100 which would give me about the same per hour gain, but would decrease my variance quite a bit, by decreasing my tilt and allowing me to really think through my situation and hopefully not lose so much when I'm running bad. Plus I learn the game better, and could beat tougher games.

The graph of my limit hold em stuff looks ridiculous, I've just gone up and down on these $300 swings for almost a month now, and haven't gotten anywhere.

Cheers,
Chad