My re entry into poker!

Variance. For a fish like me, what a f-in difficult term to fully understand. To wrap my head around losing while still making the correct plays and not change a thing is a hard thing to grasp for me. It becomes harder when I go on losing streaks continuously getting my money in when I have the best of it and coming up short. One of the main reasons I have a coach is for this reason. He informed me of tough times to come and why poker is such a hard game to consistently be good at let alone maintain a level head when you encounter tough times.

At the beginning of April I felt on top of the world. Playing 1/2 at my local casinos I didn't have a losing session in the first couple weeks. I added roughly 2,500 to my bank roll enforcing the teachings of my coach and breaking down every hand I had a question on in a deep hand analysis. I would sit there with my little notebook and pen writing away, describing big hands, how they played out and every hand I was involved with that I had a question or i won/lost curious about different ways to play it. But now, oh boy. Something happened. I continue playing the same way, analyzing the table as best i could trying to put hand ranges on everyone but no matter how good of a read I have I keep getting outdrawn on turn/river and it has been costing me some money.

Before I go further, this is me whining. Everyone experiences this i know. I'm sure some people reading this will just roll their eyes at another fish complaining so im sorry in advance. This is just my little blog and i just feel like ranting and whining.

I will do my best to remember a semi-large hand i was involved with that really began this trend of losing.

1/2 Table . Hero has 650-700 in his stack. Table is relatively tight with the exception of 3 individuals who limp/call just about everything and bet random amounts with both strong and bluff hands.

Villain #1 700 in her stack. (no fucking idea how she got it) is a female who is actually pretty hot, doesn't understand a damn thing about cards and has begun taking a barrage of tequila shots from villain #2.

Villain #2 is a older gentlemen who plays extremely loose. He over bets a lot of hands and limp calls with just about anything. His hand range is about anything the dealer throws to him.

Hero is on the button with As,Ac

Villain #1 utg limps in followed by 2-3 limps from early position to villain #2 in the cut off who limps. I raise to 25. My image is a bit more tight and I have been 3 betting a lot of my stronger hands pf against the loose canons. The 25 bet is a bit much in a lot of other circumstances but with villain #2, he tends to limp call with anything no matter the pf raise. I almost think it could have been more but, shoulda woulda coulda.

Both blinds fold. Villain #1 calls. All fold to villain #2 who calls.

Flop: 10s, 4s, 5s (pot 85ish)

Villain 1 leads out for a 20$ bet. Villain 2 calls. Hero Re-raises to 125$.
Villain 1 thinks for awhile like she does every single hand. Looks at her hand a few times... calls. Villain 2 folds.

Turn: Qd (pot 335)

Villain 1 check. Hero bets 300. Villain think and thinks and thinks and thinks. She looks a little nervous by the amount she is up against and after 5 or 6 minutes ends up on calling. At this point in the hand i'm not quite sure what in fuck I am up against. On the flop I thought a flush draw with maybe 2 overs... She has been hitting a lot of hands but generally played stronger hands. She didn't play very many wonky hands and called down a lot of people with top pair and drawing hands which is how her stack was built. The few times she made her hands that she knew were strong she fired pretty strongly into the pot. I was all sorts of fucked up by the call. She had a couple hundred left and I would have thought a flush would have just shoved.

River: 9h

She checks. Hero goes all-in. Again she thinks FOREVER. The more she thought gave me a little bit of comfort that she missed her flush. I really didn't put her on a straight draw since she called the flop raise. She called.

I show Aces with a sinking feeling in my gut that im up against a dumb hand like Q,10. She shows Ks,Jc for the straight.

It's just one of those things that i'm sure there were better ways to fold and i had severe tunnel vision with my aces vs her. When she won she jumped up like she won the lottery as i sit and stew for a minute and say nice hand and walk away tail between my legs.

Shit happens. Do I feel like I played it wrong? Meh, I could have picked up on her calling the 125 that aces may not be good. I just really felt like she had some flush draw with a pair. This very well may not even be variance but it was the hand that began my downward spiral.

Beyond that it was small things that began happening like hands with two pair on the flop getting beat by villains hitting trips on the river. A lot of this is my fault as i was playing an immense amount of poker while i was winning and started to wear myself out mentally.

I began losing stack after stack and started to feel like every hand no mater how well i hit wasn't good enough. An absolutely terrible mental state to be in. I more or less needed to use my coach as a therapist to re-instill my confidence that i was playing the hand correctly but variance is the reason that bad players players play hold'em.

Well, there is my whining rant. I went on to lose about 5-6 buy ins within the last 2 weeks until i finally decided to take a break and re-evaluate everything to make sure we aren't making mistakes. I couldn't imagine being a high stakes player and going on streaks of tens of thousands of dollars being pissed away by players catching cards vs us.

Anyways. I hope everyone has a great day and don't beat up me to badly for complaining. I know I am a results oriented player and i'm am really really trying to knock that off. I have a lot of faults still but i am dedicated to fixing them.

Have a great day everyone!

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Comments (6)

I just wanted to add a little 1/3 beat I had the other day before talking about the wsop satellite, dont mind me. :-p

If you have read my little blogs about my adventures swimming among the fish in my live 1/2 games you would know I have been on a successful streak lately. Yesterday was another decent day with leaving with 740 stack after buy in for 200. My bank roll for 1/2 has almost doubled since i began and I'm feeling pretty good. I really haven't had a bad day minus one day about 3 days ago and it sort of went like this:

10 minutes into session: Bought in for 200, 1/3 game, not even through first orbit yet...

Ks,Qs, on the button. Two limps to me and I make it 18 to go.

Both blinds fold, one limper calls. Flop comes 9s,Js,4s. Not bad right?! I have no info on the limper as I have just sat down.

He checks to me and I make a 35$ bet. He calls.

Turn, Ad. He checks again and I bet 75, a little small perhaps but I'm bad. He shoves over the top and I sadly call. I thought he might have the As but needed another spade as most fishies love chasing.

River was a blank (no spade or board pair) He flips over As,2s. FML FML FML

My only joyful moment in that night was going to take a leak with the song "car wash" playing on the speakers and the guy in the urinal next to me was moving his hips from side to side to the beat of the song until I heard "damnit!" I think he got a little too excited with swaying his hips and pissed outside of the urinal. It made me smile.

Anyways!! The Horseshoe Casino that I play at is having a wsop satellite every Monday. A 120$ rebuy, 200$ add on after the second or third break. Start with 800 in chips and can add on for 2000 more. A little awkward I thought but they usually have 150 people and a prize pool of over 60k.

The reason I want to play is I have had decent success playing at Horseshoe tournaments taking 10th, then 6th at my last 2 events. I am in much better form than I was when I previous entered and have a great coach from liquid poker to help me get ready. The few people I have seen make it into the money are complete DONKS. No exaggeration to the word. People who blow through at least 1k when they play 1/3. I feel good about joining but what do you guys think?

Let me know and thanks for taking the time to read this!!

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Comments (9)

So I have been taking lessons from a fellow member on liquid poker and I haven't felt in better poker shape than i currently am at the moment. We go over hand scenarios, any questions I have, and not just say what the right answer to a question is but go into great depth talking about why people make certain decisions. ie Why would someone bet a certain amount in a certain position, why we bet a particular amount and not another, how we can extract the most value from our made hands. I'm sure this is basic stuff but it really helps me out. I asked a while back "how do you beat 1/2?" The generic answer was, value bet your hands and play safe with rarely a bluff. Only now can I slowly understand a little bit of what that truly means.

So I sat down yesterday with 200 like always. I was sat down at a floating handed table that was both adding players and moving them to the big game that game going on across from us. I go into my usual routine FOLD FOLD FOLD. While I fold hand after hand I take the time to study the table and get out a character profile on everyone (tight-aggro, loose-aggro,tight bla bla bla) As well as do my best to remember any hands anyone shows down. A lot of people like to remember all types of hands that involved a lot of money but I just like to remember the hands which i know what the hole cards were. I just don't think it makes a lot of sense to remember possible bluff hands. Anyhoot! Since I live in the south most of the table are the country talkin, dip in the mouth while playin, drinkin liquor early in the day, Southerners. I like it. Never mind they talk the ENTIRE time they are at a table, I just do my best to tune them out and remember all they faults they make when they play.

The table at this point (1 hour in) is being raised constantly by 1 bully. The bully, a guy who for whatever reason ended up taking 6th in some 60k tournament and had a lot of money to blow. He was going through buy-in after buy-in with me slamming my face into my hands every time he stacked off with mediocre holdings and me never being able to take advantage of it. Due to my hand range being fairly tight with this table i had the image of a tight player though i doubt any slack jawed guy at my table even knew that... I look down at:

A,Ko on the button 180ish in my stack.

3 limpers then the actions is to me. I make it 17 to go. The BB is the tourny winner guy.

The BB calls, 1 other calls and the 2 other limpers fold. I didn't have much info on the other caller. He was more tight than anything else and would usually bet a small amount in all pots regardless of how much was in the pot.. odd player.

Flop comes Q,10,6 (i think it was rainbowed, hard to remember)

Both players check to me and I make it 40 to go. BB calls, other player folds.

Turn is a jack of spades. I believe the jack added to another spade on the board. BB checks and I make it 100 to go. He thinks and thinks, sais some bullshit like I have trips or something and he has two pair and folds. After I won this hand he just wouldn't stop talking about how he played it right and I got lucky as well as talking about what was on the TV on the wall above us with the show being "Dr. Phil" and the headlining topic is "man who was raped by girlfriend". Fun stuff... lets play cards and not watch TV I thought to myself. Although i did laugh at a few things that this guy would say. "Somebody tell me what i have to do so my ex's will rape me!" Ohhh the joys of 1/2.

Soon after I was moved to the big game. I spot a few regulars that i don't regard as particularly good players but good enough to fold top pair which sadly is an impressive trait to see in someone at these tables.

(I apologize in advance if I come off cocky or arrogant. I am a newby learning as well but sometimes i feel some people are just......SO BAD!)

I sit down, go over my routine of studying the table again and re-making all of my profiles on people. I notice that a very nice but PLUMP lady is sitting next to me from England. I begin talking to her just a little chit chat doing my fold marathon and it comes to this:

On the button with As,2c. 5 people limp and the action is to me. I limp as well. SB (the big lady) limps and BOOM 7 people. I can feel the readers rolling their eyes at me already. :-p

Flop comes A,T,T - Everyone checks and decide to see who has anything to call with so i bet 5 bucks. I figure an A will call, Ts will call. No biggy. The SB calls and one other person calls. Not too bad for 5 bucks. haha.

Turn comes an A. People at the table gasp for whatever reason talking about a possible bad beat pot. But they are retarded if two people limped with A's and T's. The SB checks to me which i thought was strange anyways. I figure we are going to chop if they has an ace and fold if they has a T, no big deal. I wanted to make it fun though and make her sweat a little. I make it 80 to go. A weird bet but i figured we are just going to chop this pot so whats the problem with a little fun. She think and thnks and thinks and actually startled me a little since i was like "what in fuck could she be thinking so hard about???" She make the call.

River a blank, i think a 3 or 4. Can't remember which. She checks. I couldn't quite imagine what she called down the 80 with that gave her mind such a headache. Maybe she really did hold 10,10 haha. She checks and one again, for shits and giggles, i go all in. She thinks and think and begins talking outloud, breaking down the hand with quiet mumbles. I just couldn't understand what the hard decision was. If you have an ace, call. If not, fold. EZPZ. she thinks and finally sais call. I show my ace and she flops over her 10 instantly complaining about the call she made and way she played the hand. It was probably the easiest money i have ever made at a hand that i shouldn't of. But that's 1/2 for ya.

The rest of the night was a bit of a blur since i never really had any large hands like that until my last hand. Everything else was picking up 40 dollars here and 30 there. Slowly making my stack around 700.

So I have been at the table for about 7 hours and have a massed quite the reputation of a solid player only having the nuts. Which was semi-true. There were times i won with mediocre holdings but through a short string of good hole cards and bad opponents I was able to take stacks from a few different people.

My last hand of the night. I look down at As,KS in the cut-off. Not to shabby for a last hand.

2 Limps to me and I make it 15 to go. Both blinds fold, UTG calls, and someone in middle position calls. Both of these players have around 400 in their stacks and one seems fairly competent.

Flop comes Ac,Kc,3d rainbow. Both check to me and decide to make it 40 to go. both of them take time and take sighs as they don't want to get involved with me in a big hand. I have never had opponents feel that way about me before so it felt pretty amazing. :D they both call.

Turn comes Ad. they both check to me and I am trying to find out how to get the most money out of this hand. I put one guy on chasing some sort of flush and the other with some sort of K,Q - A,Q, Jc,Tc. Something along those lines. I think I made a bad bet but I wanted they to be able to continue chasing for relatively cheap and hope they hit. i bet out 40 again. I wanted to go up to 100 but i didn't want them both to fold which i felt they would do given my tightness and they possibly needing good odds to call a pot. One guy i think is chasing calls and the other folds.

River comes 4s. He checks to me. I feel he is in some form of check fold here so i wanted to give the impressive i missed some wonky flush or straight draw. So I lead out of 200. He thinks and thinks but ultimately folds. But not so bad for my last hand!

I started with my 200 buy in and left with 920! I was pretty excited. I haven't left down from these cash games in quite a long time now. I am starting to be consistently up and this is the second time in a couple weeks where i came out a big winner. I guess we will see what happens.

Thank you for taking the time to read this and I will be going to the casino again today and i'll be sure to type another one of these with better detail and a little more complicated hands other than my nut hands.

Also: A big thank you to my coach!! I wouldn't be where I am without you. No homo. :-p

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Comments (4)

So my last poker session was a bit more delightful than others. When I first entered the caino i was forced to sit down at a table where the largest chip stack some how, was mine. I bought in for 200 and already was leading the table chip wise. How in the F did this happen? No clue. But I did know that this was not the table I wanted to be at to win money. I was forced to play 1 orbit before I was able to move tables and the entire time I would just look at the other tables around me like a penguin outside of a fish market. Once I was finally able to move to the table I wanted I took a good look at the chip stacks and found myself in a familiar situation with my chipstack being one of the lowest at the table and across from me, a older gentlemen with over 1k in his stack. YAHTZEE! My position wasn't the greatest but I am coming off of a 800$ winning night and couldn't be more excited than to see the money around the table.

A few orbits around the table and I don't see much of anything in my hand range. I always go into new tables with a set hand range and use my time to study and do the best I can to get decent hand range read and pick up tendencies on the large stacks.

About 10 hands in to the table I look down at AsAc in the BB. The table to this point, has been raising preflop about 50% of the hands I have sat down for. Nothing too crazy has went on and I haven't really seen anyone showdown their cards yet. 4 people limp to me. I have seen that 154 raises have been called after players have limped and I want to knock down the 4 people who limped into about 2 people to call my bet. I decide to raise to 20$. Everyone folds. I kick myself thinking I should have raised 15. I was out of position and didn't want too many callers with a 15$ bet but I also didn't want everyone to fold to my 20$ bet. BAH! It has been a theme of mine to just sit at these tables for hours folding and watching big stacks increase their stack size while I shove any near by object in my face wondering how people could play so loose and wild.

As my day would continue i would not see hands within my range to play. As a new player I am trying to keep my range pretty tight and legit. My hand range is: Any pocket pair, any suited connector, Any suited ace in position, A,K,- A,Q,- K,Q - J,Q suited - K,J suited and in position. So, pretty legit and obvious. I don't play any gapped cards and try to stay away from trouble hands like A,T - , K,T- Q,T. Depends on how the table goes, I will open this hand range up quite a bit but more or less this is what i play.

A few hours in I find myself looking down at KdKc utg. Not too shabby right? Yeah, that's what I thought too... The position was shitty but I haven't seen a combination of face cards let alone matching ones. My table image at this point is very tight. I know that with an open raise to the pot any smart player would instantly be able to pick up on my hand. I open the pot to 15$, looking back i think this was a bit low. The table has been the same, people have been calling 15$ bets from time to time but i thought a 20$ raise from someone who hasn't raised in forever would show a big red flag even to the most doorknob of players. I get 2 callers including a big stack to my right who loves to call bets like this from position. I move to the left of this big stack earlier in the day to help my chances of playing a potentially better player from position more often. Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't like this particular hand. Flop comes JsQs4s, 3 spades FML. To top it off I didn't have the Ks. I made a huge mistake here by betting into this pot. Among the two players left in this hand, one was a weak player with about 60 left in his stack and was just a silly player which i had put him on some pocket pair or Ace anything since i have seen him call with A,5 in a different raised pot OOP. My big stack to the right of me has been playing relatively solid. I have seen him steel a few pots from time to time but never would shove enough in to give bad pot odds. He was... so-so. Thats an oxymoron i know. "A good 1/2 player." But to me, he was. I decided to bet 40$ into this pot. I thought that the short stacked guy would call and the big stack was wise enough to know when to fold a beaten hand. However, the short stack called like i thought he would, in fact he shoved for an addition 20 over mine. But then the big stack shoved for an additional 500 over mine. I thought long and hard about why he would shove. I obviously knew i had to fold but i thought why he would shove. What hand? What could he put me on knowing how tight I have been. I fold my hand to find he had As2s while the bad player just had a pair of queens. The big stack called my pre flop bet with As2s, but thats what i get for him being in position and having a large stack. I know I should have checked the flop but i think going card dead for so long put a hindrance on my decision making. NEVER AGAIN

My night was like this for the most part. I won a few hands here and there but never really caught any string of hands. I had A,A early on, messed it up. got K,K later and messed that up too. I broke even tonight which isn't too bad. I managed to take some small pots here and there but nothing too big. I am continuing to do my best to improve and receive guidance from my coach. I don't mind if i lose hands or buy-in's, I just want to make sure I make the right decisions or close to it.

until next time, I hope you enjoyed this!!!

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Comments (10)

Alright! Where to begin with this session. I didn't really have any changes to my game plan. All I had was a more clear way of understanding of what it was i was trying to accomplish. I understand my hand ranges and was really going to work on making a character profile for everyone at the table. When I sat down I looked around to see what kind of chip stacks i was up against and it was a bit overwhelming and exciting. Majority of the players at the table had 300+, 2 players had around 700 and maybe 2 or 3 with 200 and below. I decided to sit down with 200 as usual.

As I begin to play i see the same common scene, no cards with a lot of action when i am no involved in the hand. FML. :-p The player to the right of me has around 700 in chips and is unusually tight for how i am used to seeing big stacks play 1/2. The person to my left had about 300 but as the game would go on through out the night he would go up to around 700.

So there i am! Being my usual self getting hands like 5,10 off, 3,7o, maybe getting K,4o on my button, you know - the usual. My hands don't really matter so much but the table is beginning to become more and more aggressive. When I first sat down you could see a lot of pots by limping but that was soon cast aside by the player on my left who is quickly gaining a nice chip advantage over everyone.

My first playable hand is A,J spades on the button. Two people decide to limp in around middle position when it comes to me so i decided to raise to 17. I chose 17 since the chip leader on my left like to call anything with anything and i wanted to narrow this pot down from around 3-4 ppl to 1-2. The guy on my left calls and the limpers fold. The guy on my left has shown down hands like 6,3o K,9o. nothing too good but the way the flops have been developing he has been hitting a lot and even though he was calling with almost crap hands, the boards have been very generous to him and i have never seen him bluff or show a bluff at this point. Flop comes A,Q,Q. He checks to me and I think for a little bit. With his hand ranges I think i have him pretty well beat. I raise to 25. He thinks for a small bit and grabs a stack and raises me to 100. I couldn't quite think what he had, maybe K,Q maybe Q,J some pocket pair he thought was good. My image at this point is very tight. I haven't played a hand yet and ive been siting for half an hour. I fold due to the fact i havent seen him re-raise someone unless he had what he represented. After I folded he showed me his Q and said he had Q,10. Blah.

Later on I don't get any hands. I had a suited connector at some point but i think i folded too quickly because i dont even remember the hand.

After about 1.5 hours of folding i am down to 140 in chips. I finally get a pocket pair, my first of the night. Pocket 9's. The guy to the left of me, now with 700+ in chips, staddled my BB. 3 people call the 4$. Action comes to me and i decide to call along with the straddler. I like to raise with pockets 10's and up. Being the BB i didn't want to raise in my position. Flop comes 5,9,10. I was praying in my head. Please please please let me see a 9. I decided to check my trips. Reason i decided this was because the player to my left almost always bets the flop when he straddles, i haven't seen him do it yet. The people at the tables havent seen me bet a hand yet and are used to see me checking. I didn't want to give any signs up hitting something. Guy to my left bets 17 with the other players calling, along with myself. turn comes A. I check hoping the guy to my left will lead out with a bet again and everyone will call building the pot for my re-raise. He checks with everyone following suite and checking. I decide to raise to 35. Everyone folds except the player on my right who went from 700+ chips now to 300. He calls my bet. He has been relatively tight and this bored didnt offer any flushes and i didn't put him on any straight draws. river comes a 2. No 3 of any suits which made me happy. I think for awhile and decide to bet 90. After some heavy consideration he grabs a stack and calls. He shows A,10. I take down the pot. PHEW!

Finally i feel my luck was beginning to change! Only took 1.5hrs of folding. Even though i finally doubled up i told myself to stick to the game plan and not get anxious because we won a hand. I am in the BB with 5,9o. A crap hand with the usual play of check if i can pre flop but fold to any bet. 4 People limp and i decide to just check with my amazing hand. Flop comes 9,9,K. Awesome flop for me. I'm not sure why i decided to check the flop but the table has still been quite aggressive with the flops never usually going for an entire round of checks. I check, i person a semi tight grandma bets 15, one player calls, the other two fold and I call. Turn is a 5. Yahtzee! I am hoping someone has that K and with the players still in the hand i didn't suspect they were good enough to know when to let go of top pair. I check again and the grandma puts the rest of her chips in the pot with a 60$ raise. The guy next to her has been a little down in his chip count lately decides to call the bet with about 150 behind. I decided to shove all-in. I had him covered and i figured he would call my all-in if he had a 9 or any top pair. He didn't get involved with too many pot for a lot of money in the past but when he did he was always committed. This, I took as one of those times. He called with a disgusted look on his face. River comes up a blank. I show my full house, grandma showed 9,A. Trips with A kicker. Red-headed guy showed top pair. I think he had something like K,10. Maybe a little better i actually didnt see since i was so excited i won and that he called me. But with that big win I scooped up all the chips in one big pile so excited i actually forgot to tip the dealer. I got lucky with the 5 but at some point my hands will hit.

Now with a pretty big chip stack and making two player get up and walk away simultaneously i felt pretty good about myself. I look at 6,6 on the button. A smile goes off my mind. I haven't seen this many playable hands in quite some time. A few players limp to me and i decide to limp along with them. The players in this hand were quite weak to my knowledge. They seemed to raise when they had a hand worthy of it and always limped when their hand was weaker. There were no tricks to their play. It was a bit refreshing that i didnt have to think too hard about their hand ranges. Flop comes 5,6 10. YAY! Another good hand for me. Checks all around to me and i decide to raise it to 12. 2 players insta-fold and the third calls. Turn comes a J. I put this player on a funky draw. They always seemed to call call call in whatever hand they were in and usually were flushed out by a big raise. They check to me and i raise to 25. They call. I'm thinking they are still searching for that straight or flush since i dont think they would have called with pair of 10's. Turn comes an Ace, they check. I look at his stack and he has about 60 left. I think a big raise would get him to fold so i bet another 25 which I thought was about the most amount of money he would call with. He calls and turnd over 10,J. Another lucky hit for me.

All in all I felt like i played semi-good. I got quite bit lucky with my 9,5o hand. I really didn't play more than 5-6 hands the entire time. I feel like i have a decently big range of hands that i play but i just didnt get anything. I played all my pockets pairs and any suited connectors. I didn't see anything A hands minus the A,J i lost. I went in with 200 and walked out with 855 in chips. Not too shabby. I still don't think i played all of my hands the best I could and i may need to re-adjust when I see another table as loose as this one was.

But thanks for taking the time to read this and i'm going to continue writing these for as long as I play poker and become a good player some day!

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Comments (16)

So! I decided to play some hold'em in Vegas. There were no 1/2 just 1/3/, 2/5, then up to 5/10. I decided to hop into a 1/3 game trying to go strictly by the guidelines that I have been practicing with a little bit of improvisation due to actions what I see at the table.

So I sit down with 200.00$. The largest buy in was 300 but I just happened to have to 200. I watched the table for about 15 minutes before I sat down and didn't find the table being so aggressive I needed a bigger stack. Once I sit down I notice that the table is typically tight. No one being over aggressive. Raises tended to represent high cards and the few people who would call raises regardless of the amount were easily identified. There were 2 people with stacks over 300 and both of them were tight and played premium hands. As the cards start rolling I play the folding game for the first majority of the hands i receive trying to pick up on everyone else while I wait and watch.

The first playable hand I fall into were pocket 6's. I was in middle position with an unopened pot. I raise to 7. Just a small raise and a pot builder. I got about 4 callers. Not a big deal. Flop came J,K,3. I checked the flop to find a raise to 15 and two calls. I fold.

Later on I come across A,Ko. A few folds and 2 limps in front of me I decided to raise to 20 due to how many people come after me. I get a call from the small blind and folds all around. Flop comes 6,7,T rainbow. I'm not sure why but I decided to lead with a bet. The individual I was up against seemed to be a tight player and talk around the table seemed to say how they haven't seen him show a bluff. He check the flop. I raise to 25. With a few minutes of thought he reaches and decided to raise me to 75. I debated the possibilities. I assumed he limped then called my raise forgetting he was the small blind. I thought for a little while, thinking about what possible hands he could have had to call my 20. Maybe A,K - pockets of 8-J, A,Q. I feel pocket J's or Q's would incite a 3 bet pre flop but the table talk was he slow played his big hands and I haven't seen enough of him to really know for sure. Even if I was ahead in the hand i am not about to semi bluff with such little information about my opponent. A smooth call would have me praying to hit an A, or K to scare him off his queens or jacks and if he tripped up I am dead anyways. I fold.

A few hands later I find pocket 5's. I call a raise to 10 with a few other people and find the flop hideous with no 5's. Check-fold.

Later on again i look at A,Ko. Never suited which irritated me. I am in early position and open the pot with a 15 dollar raise. Folds all around until the dealer button calls me. Flop comes J,Q,3 rainbow. The person I was up against tended to play weaker hands. Like A,To - J,Qo Any Ace suited or not suited. He valued his top pairs a lot, bets medium pair hands and calls with any outs. I decided to lead out with a bet thinking I could hit any K or A and get ahead of him and I had the 10 in my back pocket. I raise to 20 to get a quick re raise to 75. I wasn't sure what to make of this play. I felt like I really had a good shot of still being ahead of him. By the hands I have watched him play and how loose he is I was betting he was dealing with a pair of jacks. Maybe 10,J or Q,10 Maybe A,J. Nothing too strong. The problem was he had me covered with about 400 chips in his stack to my now 150ish. I debated a long time with my gut telling me I am probably not as far behind at this bet is making it look. I needed to catch to pull ahead. I laid this hand down with anger in my heart. I couldn't come to call his bet hoping to hit an A,K, or 10. I doubt I could have re-raised him off his hand since he had me covered. Judging by the was he was playing he would think his Q,10 or J,10 was good enough. Maybe he had J,Q. In any case I learned not to do any continuation bets when my A,K doesn't hit. It just gets me into trouble. I could have checked and he may have only bet 20-25 which may almost merit a call from me or at least get the same information without losing my chips. I fold.

After my few hands of A,K I really went into a bad slump of cards for about 1 1/2 hours. I fold fold fold fold watch the hands play out. I notice a gentleman who joined the table was EXTREMELY loose. Playing the most ridiculous cards ever and calling with the worst hands ever and somehow winning. He would be calling 20 dollar bets that already have a few people in the pot with Q,3o and some how end up winning the hand with a pair of queens. This guy was terrible. I watched as he showed down the worst hands ever. I wasn't able to make a move due to not getting any cards. I couldn't even limp with the hands I was getting. Eventually I get pocket J's on the button. Limps to all to me with about 4 people limping already. I raise to 20. The loose guy in the BB calls and every else folds. Flop comes A,4,7 rainbow. I knew this guy would play any ace and had a large range of hands. I knew that if this flop came out low with my jacks being an over pair i would take this guy for a lot of money. If I tripped up he would be too dumb to know what hit him. I raise to 15 to see what he would do. I call wouldn't surprise me but like everyone else he re-raises me. He wasn't around to see everyone else doing it so i didnt think it was a trend he picked up on. He hasn't re-raised people too much and when he had top pair he would call or lead out a bet when checked to, never re-raise. I wasn't sure what to think of it. He was about 500 deep and I was around 125. he raised to 50 without too much hesitation. I couldn't afford to see another card and playing A- anything was well in his range even shown when he was involved in a multi hundred dollar pot with A,6o. It boggled my mind. I folded to him and kicked myself as to what was happening to me. I couldn't get any luck on the flop and anytime i thought i saw weakness I was re-raised. Maybe I shouldn't have been betting the flops with my over cards or trying to bet into weak players.

All in all my experience was so-so. I wasn't able to spend as much time in the room as had hoped for but the small amount of time I had found weaker players than my local 1/2 games in Louisiana. I wish I had more time to sit and crush these super loose and crazy players. I wanted so badly to catch a flop vs the loose players. I had the pleasure of holding my last hour and a half with no hand to even raise pre flop. Maybe limp but I am not about to play shit hands because the rest of the table is. I had a lot of fun and look forward to continue the coaching I am receiving and kick ass in my local 1/2 tables.

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This an update to "My re-entry into poker".

Yesterday I decided to compete in my local casino's 1/2 NL game. As I have previously stated, my goals going into this game were simple. Play safe, don't bluff, study the table, never be the first to limp in, always play in position. These tactics are very generic and although as simple as they appear to be should create a solid 1/2 player due to the level of skill presented by 1/2.

So there I am, walking into the casino seeing a lot of familiar faces from when i was a regular sitting down grinding 8-12 hours a day. Some players recognized me, even most of the dealers. It was nice to be in the atmosphere again. I ended up sitting down as some generic 9-handed table. Everyone's stack was actually quite small. The largest being 300-400$. Since the average stack was around 100 I wasn't able to buy in for the full 200 for some reason. I didn't question my buy in and just accepted it. There was a another table with much money at it with the average stack being around 300$. But I would have to wait for someone to be eliminated before joining.

On the the game!!

The first thing i tried to do was get the feeling of the table. My range of hand were quite high since i told myself to always be in position and value bet your strong hands. The rule everyone has told me was to never be the first to limp in. I'm not quite sure why that is. Why is it ok to limp in behind someone but not be the first. Anyways, the table seemed to be quite tight initially. The average pre flop raise was between 6 and 10$ which I thought was a bit odd and there were always a handful of limpers before each pre flop raise. I tried to eye up who if anyone would see this and decide to be the aggressive raiser trying to pluck these individuals of their limps slowly. There were two people at the table who were more aggressive than the others but when their hands were revealed they always seemed to have the nuts. I picked out 2 people who if i could, I would try to stay away from and steal any pots i could if they were not in the hand.

I always seemed to get mediocre hands just after the blinds. Hands like A,Q off suite, K,Q off, A,T off. Nothing incredibly strong but good hands if i was in position. When I had these hands I was always first or second to act pre flop so i wasn't sure to raise since i couldn't be the first to limp or just fold since i was out of position in this semi-tight calling station of a table. If I were to raise 10-15$ pre flop I was almost sure I would have gotten a few callers and put myself into a bad position being the first to act post flop. I would need to hit since a continuation bet would have just been called in my assumption. I wasn't aiming to steal the pot since my goal wasn't to bluff out the pots. But should I have just bet anyways? I decided to limp in (the first to limp in), already breaking one of my rules i said not to do. 4 Other people limped into the pot as well. I would have called a small raise but I feel I have already made a large mistake by limping. The flop however was incredibly good to me. Coming A,Q,3. I lead out with a bet of 10$ Since the pot was still quite small and the bet would attract any schmuck who plays Ace - anything. There were no flush draws. I got two callers. Turn was a Q. I hit the nuts. Unless someone had A,A I won this hand. Assuming no one's hand strength had changed too much since there weren't any real straight or flush draws i fired a 25$ bet. I got 2 folds and a re-raise to 50. After another fold it was heads up and I made the obvious choice and shoved. River was nothing and I took down the hand. He had trip queens with a low kicker. I doubled up quite fast even making a few mistakes in my play.


As the night continued I wouldn't see any other strong hands and continued to play tight and from position. I would limp in with my low pocket pairs and never trip up. On the button I would play suited connectors and any suited Ace. I never hit on the board and folded more often than not. The day was quite slow from here on out. I never hit any strong hands and if every time i was in position and thought about stealing the pot or tried to raise from my position there was already a raise on the table and my hand was quite weak. I tried not to get frustrated since I came into this game expecting this would happen.

Eventually I moved tables and sat down with players whose average of chips were around 300$ with the big stack having close to 1k. At this point the blind have taken me down to 150% from my double up early on.

This table was a bit more aggressive. The main chip leader was involved in almost every hand which was no surprise but what was a surprise was every time he showed down he had a strong hand. When he limped, he had what you guessed he would have. He was hitting and it was important to avoid him if I could. After an hour of sitting down I found myself in the same situation. Nothing but crap hands and nothing even close to a strong hand when I was in position. I was studying the table quite hard trying to pick up on betting styles and how the big stack played. I found a few players who I would consider calling stations and identified a few players who were playing as tight as I was. The big stack as well as 2 other players were quite loose. Limping in most hands and always raising from the button or a few spots before it. I never got involved with any hands but one or two due to my cards. I thought to myself If I should be trying to raise the limpers from position regardless of my cards since I have sustained a quite strong "tight" image. I however, continued to be safe.

My last hand was a bit silly. First to act pre flop I look at A,9 of diamonds, amazed to see something other than 3,7off suite let alone an ACE. The big stack was in position so raising right now i know would get called by him but in my gut know that i should not be limping in especially since i am chasing the flush and not a pair of aces with crap kicker. I limp in and cringe in my mind as I know this is a mistake. Mostly folds around the table until the big stack raises to 10 as expected and the small blind who was a tight player like me makes the call.
Flop comes Qd-Jd-9s. Quite a good flop for me considering I haven't seen any flop for quite some time. I check, hoping to see a cheap turn and get out of chasing for a relatively cheap price. I think to myself if raising was the right call. I could decide the going price as well as give an impression that im not chasing. But I am a newby and check. Big stack bets 20$ with a call from the tight player. I decide to call since I could hit a A,9, or any diamond and have a shot at having the nuts between the three of us. Turn comes 10s. Now I have open-ended straight and a flush draw. roughly 35% change of winning assuming my opponent haven't hit the straight right now. I check, big stack bets out a large 75$ bet. tight player calls. I take a few minutes to think it over. there is over 300$ in the pot, i have, in my mind about 17 outs. 11 diamonds, 3 kings, 3 eights. Maybe even an ace could hit. Wasn't sure. I decided to shove all-in with another 50 on top of that 75. I watch as both players call. [b]River is a J[b/], nothing for me. Big stack had a King and hit when the 10 landed on the turn and tight player had a pair of queens low kicker which was quite odd of him. I had a 65% chance to win before the turn but when the 10 hit, my odds to win vs the straight were 25%. I didn't think he had the king so in my mind i thought i was around 40%.

Tough games!

I lost 100$ which was fine for me. My first time back i spent a lot of time trying to learn the table and had a hard time knowing what to do when I had semi strong hands in first position like A,Q off suite. I didn't know to raise or limp and semi-aggressive table. When I was in position i never had anything too strong, no pair of faces, suited connectors or anything. I will be going back once design a little more structure in my games and being getting the kinks out of it.

Please help me out and post some good responses that I will definitely go over and do my best to adapt into my play style.

Any help would be great and I hope you enjoyed this article. I will continue to update each time i go back to the casino.

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It has been about a year since I last sat down at the tables with the drive and determination that I have now. I went to my book shelf and dusted off my Harrington on holdem books, my little black, green and blue books, and began to skim over all the highlights i previously made in the super system 1 & 2. (Although they seemed pretty much the same) A lot of my books were for tournament play since I found the most success playing in tournaments last years winning honestly about 1 of everything 3 tournaments cashing in about 1,400- 1,700 a tournament. (usually 200$ freeze outs)

Since I have made it my goal to become a strong cash game player I have been running into some troubles. My books cover lightly on cash games and the games they do cover are for limits much higher than I am going to being playing. My casino's in town run 1/2 and 2/4 with the occasional 5-10 if enough people want to do it. Usually a full poker room with 1/2 tables.

I have been skimming online, reading forums, asking my friends questions and trying to put my self through a super course of cash games. I like to think the reason i was never too successful at 1/2 was that I over thought the game too much. I would do my best to make reads, judge hand ranges, always play from position and try to take money from players who "seemed weak". I never really saw "fish". I have seen some bad players before but even a bad player can take your money in a 1/2 game before you get the chance to build your stack. From what I have been gathering are just a few things.

1.) Play tight. Players skill at 1/2 isn't high enough to understand when to fold. They value their hand much more than they should.

2.) Value bet your pots. When you have it, get it in. No slow playing your hands.

3.) Be patient. Depending of the style of your table, playing tight and value betting will cause you to be watching a lot from the sidelines. Just make sure to use that time to study your opponents and try to catch tendencies.

4.) Don't over play. Don't try to trap or bluff your opponent since he will think his top pair is a royal flush.

5.) Never be the first player to limp in. You can limp in after others. Just never be the first.

Of course, all of these ideas are subject to change due to the type of player and way the table is going.Of course, all of these ideas are subject to change due to the type of player and way the table is going.

From my first post on here I got some real nice responses. More specifically from Carthac and another individual who posted a really informative link about the value of your play and what it means to make the right decision even if you lose the hand. Others, posted.. well, nothing important enough to type.

Prior to coming back into poker I played online on both Full Tilt and Poker Stars before it was illegal and spent my days playing casino cash games and tournaments. I don't like to think of myself and a new beginner with the experiences that I have but maybe I am since a year is a long time to stay away.

As I have been looking around for books, threads, and pm people about good tactics to crush 1/2 i still find myself looking around. Some things I have decided and questions I have are:

- My bank roll will be 2k. Even though the buy-in is 200.00$ I will have a lot to play with since I don't expect to have all my knowledge suddenly return as the hands are dealt.

- I will "generally" go into my first few tables playing tight. Keeping a relatively strong range of hands to play with and always from position. I will do my best to identify the lose and tight players and try to punish them when I hit a hand. No bluffing. (unless he's a tool)

- From your experiences, what were the best ways you crushed 1/2 tables?

- What are some good books you have read that helped you in your success to pass 1/2?

- Anyone interested in coaching me? (gotta try ;-p)

- I will be updating my blog on here talking about tough hands, my win/loss, and any questions I had at the poker table. I am bring pen and paper along with me so I can write it down as it happens so I don't forget.

I always wondered how all of you think 1/2 is such a low skill level. It fascinates me a little bit. But if you took the time to read this entire thing, thank you. For anyone who responds with intentions of helping me, thank you. I'll do my best to keep updating as I play.

Thanks for reading!!

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As I contemplate typing this, I think to myself "how should I start this off?".

I would like to start by talking about my prior experience playing holdem. The town I live in is made up of 3 things: casinos, restaurants and more casinos. (Shreveport, LA) The main live game played is 1/2 and 2/4 no limit. I understand how a lot of the members of this site are well beyond 1/2 and 2/4 and consider them newbish games but I would that me a "fish" or a newby. I have played in more tournaments than i can count. Just simple 200 dollar buy-ins with about 60-70 people. A dream for some of you pros on here who would make an easy 2k.

During my poker time I had to go to Iraq for a year and have yet to get back into poker. I wasn't incredibly successful at 1/2 cash games breaking more even than winning. I won multiple tournaments somehow finding it easier to play and more strategic. I never wanted to play poker leisurely. I did my best to acquire the most knowledge of the game I could. I bought multiple books, went though and highlighted what i thought was consistent in all the books. I folded pages with good information and did my best to include the tips and tricks into my play.

Now that I decided to get back into the game I have been re-reading my books, trying to re-understand everything. I have the bank roll to play the 1/2 cash games but I don't want to have the same thing happen as last time. I don't want to come out breaking even, every once in awhile doubling my stack at 1/2. I am posting this looking for guidance and help. As I read these forums and browse through the threads you all seems to be very skilled players. I want to be like you guys. I want to view 1/2 as low limit and a game where the easy money is.

I was looking for guidance from you guys. Any help you could offer. Any thought of good material for 1/2 no limit? Any good threads you could refer me to? Any tips or play styles you guys could give to help me become a better player and finally surpass 1/2 and move up the ladder.

Thank you guys for reading this and I really want to become a great poker player and lose my fish mentality. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks again guys!!

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