**** TJ’s Sundry Poker Adventures! 2025-26 ****

Now I’ll start with a description of the live poker venues I play at. It reminds me of Mike McD in Rounders, having so many different games I can go to. “There’s a cigar shop in Brooklyn, EASY clean.” I like keeping a cash bankroll in my place, because I enjoy making decisions for how much cash I’ll bring to games, and when to allocate my money from my bankroll, to my high yield savings, or to put in the market. Makes me feel like a mysterious international arms dealing terrorist, lol.

I currently play at 6 different venues. I’ll refer to them as G, T, F, K, R, and O.

G: My favorite venue. I like the dealers and the guys that run this venue the most, and I’ve had the best results there. It’s at a house that’s been converted specifically for poker, and there’s plenty of parking. It’s also got the best food, as they bring in a chef to whip up something good every night. They advertise that they play 7 nights a week, but in practice, sometimes a cash game doesn’t get going, on slow nights. It’s a healthy, sustainable poker ecosystem, with the largest local pool of players playing tourneys and cash games.

Instead of posting blinds, the PLO cash game is a mandatory button straddle, where the button has the option of straddling between $10 to $25. It keeps the pot math simpler, and the players adjust by playing looser, and limping more widely. Lots of big, multi-way pots. And the button always has an option of potting it HUGE once it gets to him.

There’s also double board PLO bomb pots on dealer changes every half hour, and a reverse moving button for bomb pots once an orbit. As is usually the case in bomb pots, players are frequently making MASSIVE mistakes in GIGANTIC pots, with multiple stacks going in by the river.

And finally, once the cash game has been playing for a few hours, it gets pretty deep, then winners start leaving. But that’s also when players that have busted from the nightly tournament still have the itch. So donks that have played in a $150 NLH tournament (with a bad structure) sit in to a deepstacked, mature PLO cash game for like $200-$500. As you might expect, they don’t stand a chance. It’s rare they still have chips after barely half an hour.

T: Another very good venue. They also play tournaments and cash games. The PLO is button straddle, or sometimes 1-3 ROE ($5 bring in for PLO). It’s at an apartment, so I worry about the security, or long-term sustainability of the game, with neighbors, or a leasing office that might wonder why there’s 4 poker tables and no beds in a 3BR apartment.

F: This game is affiliated with the same guys that run T. They share players, and alternate nights, so there’s always a game at one venue or the other. They play more NLH and ROE than I’d prefer, but when there’s high turnout for the big weekend tournaments, the cash games can be very good.

K: This is the biggest game I know of in the city. I had to be vetted and personally referred by another player to get an invite (soft skills are IMPORTANT, people!). The stakes they play depends on who’s in town, and what the lineup is. Sometimes it’s 5/5 NL, or there’s PLO. It might be 10-25 button straddle, 25-50 button straddle (1k min), or even sometimes 50-100 button straddle (2k min) 😮

I haven’t played the black chip game, just one session at the 25/50 game. Did pretty well, too, +3k. Honestly though, that’s about as high as I’d ever feel comfortable playing, in an underground card game, and not in a public casino with security. The risk of being robbed, cheated, or raided by cops is too high, when there’s that much cash in one room.

R: This is a unique venue, because they’re set up as a “Social Club,” for legal reasons. There’s no drop for cash games, and you have to pay a weekly, monthly, or yearly membership fee to get a license to sit. And they take a time charge instead of a rake when you’re cashing out.

It’s in a rented space in an industrial park, and they set out to make the venue as much of a man-cave paradise as possible. There’s TV’s, food, a beer tap, darts, ping pong, even a 9-foot Olhausen pool table!

As far as the games go, it’s mostly NLH, which doesn’t much interest me. And when the T and F venues run their multi-flight tournaments, they combine the fields for Day 2 at R, for the space. The most recent one they did was NINE Day 1 flights, $300 buy in, and they got over 640 entries, for a prize pool over $100k. They also sometimes get a 20/40 mix game going, and Big O too. It’s a cool concept.

O: This is my least favorite venue. They only run 1-3 NLH with a $6 rock, one hand of PLO per orbit. The bomb pots are $200 cap, which is like putting pool noodles over sharp coffee table corners when you have a toddler at home. That they have to make this accommodation to keep fish in action should show how soft the player pool is.

My main concern is security. The game is in an office park, with no cameras, and an unlocked front door. A crew could literally drive in, stick the room up, and drive away, in under 240 seconds. I’ve been robbed before in my live poker adventures (many, many years ago), I don’t need to play 1-3 NLH that bad.

We start August off fresh, recapping a nice night at G, for +1070.

I was there at the beginning, and it was a pretty loose, splashy game. Unfortunately, I was pretty cold to start the night, just getting completely unplayable cards for most of the first two hours.

One of the biggest fish I’ve played with here, however, positively could not miss. Scooping bomb pots, and spiking turns or rivers and getting stacks in. He ran his stack up to about 4500 or so, then went into lockdown for an hour and hardly played a hand. Which was very out of character for him. He said “guess I cooled off,” and picked up early. Hopefully he’ll be back, I’ve seen him tilt off at least that much before. Very happy to see the fish win, especially when it’s not at my expense.

I was in for 800, down to about 500, when I hit my first nice hand, flopping a boat on T-T-7. I got it in vs the case ten, and faded his kickers to get back to about even.

My biggest pot of the night came later, when I saw a raised, 4-way flop with AKQT. It came T-3-2 two tone, the raiser continued, and I called. Turn was another T, then the raiser pots it to about 300. I had position, and three live overcard kickers, so I called.

River was a lovely Q, that completed the front door flush. He checked, and angrily folded to my shove for about 900 more. He was very steamed, saying “I can’t believe you called me down with just the flush!” I told him flush no good, and he said he just had the other ten. Now I’m thinking I may have missed value by not shoving over the top on the turn. Easy to say, if I’d known the river would fill me up.

So yeah, a pretty nice night. The psychology and emotions of poker wins and losses is very interesting to me. For one thing, it’s demonstrably true that winning never feels NEARLY as good, as losing an equivalent amount feels BAD. Losing 2k in a night feels MUCH worse than winning 2k in a night feels good.

I think it’s because everyone feels like they ought to be a winning player, so poker wins are only a confirmation of what’s expected. Losing, however, plants insidious seeds of doubt, that what if I’m wrong about everything, and I’m NOT a winning player?

I’ve also noticed that there’s a key inflection point for what I’ll feel about a given win. For me, that number is about a grand. If I’ve been playing a while, and I’m up “only” 300 or 500, I’ll want to keep playing, and “take something for my time.” But +1k is a grand day, any way you slice it. A worthwhile win.

And as a corollary to the above, marginal utility from wins is non-linear. It sucks that winning 3k doesn’t feel 3 times as good as winning 1k.

I remember when I was playing mostly 1-3 NLH, and +1k would be a pretty big win. Even winning 300 or 500 was a great result.

Most of all, it’s important not to be too detached from the reality of just how much money 300, 500, 1k, or 3k is, from a value of money and utility standpoint. I can do increasingly fun things, for those amounts of money.

So August is off to a good start! Let’s springboard this momentum into a great week of work, then Cherokee next weekend.

I'm in! This is a great start TJ, thank you for the effort.

Interested to read more of your thoughts/hand analysis, always good stuff.

This is a very exciting announcement. I can't wait to read along.

Good luck at Cherokee. Seems like you have a good selection of cash games to play in. Just wondering what’s the rake like at these underground places?

It’s steep, up to $20 in some places.

In. GL this weekend! I may try to make it down to Cherokee at some point for a circuit event.

Thanks, definitely hit me up if you do!

Good luck buddy keep us updated - work is going to keep me from coming up for the Main unfortunately. Give em hell.

glad to follow

Sundry Poker?

GL on your Cherokee adventures. That's a long trek for me, so I will live vicariously through your forays in the forest.

Sundry (adj): various, assorted, diverse. It’s a great word!

…Also the name of a gift shop at the Wynn, where you can buy lighters, phone chargers, or refrigerator magnets 😀

Curious whether you can find the structure sheets for this Cherokee series anywhere. The new wsop website is just so awful, and as great as the app was for on-site stuff it’s brutal for planning purposes- although Cherokee isn’t on the app anyway.

I bought a cheap 10-cent chinese comb there when I forgot mine. Seven dollars American. That was years ago, prob ten bucks at least now.

I know what it meant, I was wondering why you were using it.

Quite various of you!

Work was fine. I find while it’s easier to bound out of bed and attack the day when I have a trip to look forward to,

It just makes the day feel like it’s going SO slow, though, lol.

Stopped on the road after work for dinner at the Longhorn again.

Went with the ribeye, mid rare of course. Cooked perfectly. Plus a Caesar and some loaded mashed potatoes, it was $33.

Once again, all restaurant prices listed will be before tip.

Getting back on the road, next stop: the trusty Econo Lodge!

And WH hash browns!

Hit some gnarly traffic outside Asheville, but I made it to the Econo Lodge safe and sound.

Got the double full bed again.

Took a hot shower, got a shave, now I’m ready for bed! Gonna get a good night’s sleep with my bipap machine, a good breakfast, then Flight B at 11 am!

Looking forward to being on your virtual rail.

Good morning from the Great Smoky Mountains!

You already know where I’m starting my day.

Went with the go-to breakfast.

She specifically asked if I wanted onions in the hashbrowns.

I told her no, we’re saving that for Day 2 rungood.

Heading over to the casino now, in the lucky Day 1 shirt, of course!

The calm before the storm.

Let’s fill this room up today!

Bought into the tournament. Now waiting for a short session of 1/3 NLH, to get back into hold’em mode, and practice folding.

I love that they took the 1/3 cap up from 300 to 500.

Go, Moby, Go!

Good luck TJ!