1/3 Grinding and Bankroll

Made a decent comeback with AAKK7ss
and AAK98ss, now back at 1/2. My new nickname is “gambling Johnny.” As two friends said, it’s good for people in this small player pool to see me give action because I will get more action with my big hands and I won’t have as much of a nit image. The game organizer said I am close to being in the starting line up.

Pared the losses from stuck over $7k at 10/10 to $3,500 before the game broke. Took a break to cool off as I could feel the emotions rumbling inside me and it helped.

Trying to come up with areas I can further improve my game to remain a great or even better plo player….now that I’m card dead I thought I would put in a little reflection…

I think buying in even deeper is one place to start, especially in the bigger games.

Getting my preflop raising and re-raising frequencies down pat.

Really working on remaining patient and letting the game come to me. I think if I buy in deeper I will be less inclined to get it in in marginal even if slightly +EV spots.

Bluff catching on rivers.

Having a balanced range that has enough value and bluffs.

Things I already do pretty well that I should keep doing:

preflop discipline, measured postflop aggression, ranging opponents, reading players, game selection, using blockers, manipulating the action pre and postflop, getting value with good hands, losing the minimum with second best hands, playing my equity and pushing it when appropriate and playing defense when warranted.

Wrapped up winning a few hundo at 1/2 in the second session, got a good laugh saying “who’s your daddy” with this drunk action dude (his catch phrase when he wins). Discussed some hands with my poker playing friend and he said my hands were just running bad and not punts which was nice.

Lost $3,800 in the end. challenge is at around $80,920. Sold another strat guidebook which was nice, not nice is running break even for a couple weeks again.

I am increasing the variance in some spots preflop but I am also running below EV... when you are 45/55 or 51/49 and get none of the pot running it multiple times sometimes....
QQT76ds against AKJJ3, AKK92ss against AJT97, T9987ds against two KKs, AKTT7ds against two trash hands, AAK87ds against KQT94 all total losers at 10/10 whether I got it in ahead or slightly behind.

Nothing a good work out can't help with, although tbh I am feeling a little low on energy and mood today. I will do a light exercise routine. Maybe hop in the 20/40 mix for a little fun.

Started out well today winning with my value hands until lost a big one with nut wrap middle pair to non nut wrap no pair in a 4! pot, a 65/35. Down a little now but at least the game is good. Might play the big mixed game as the line up looks above average tonight.

Lost QJJTTds all in pre to AK654ds and two other unknown hands. Pfft. Winner hit and run on the entire table. He always does this. I tried to get him out preflop. Oh well.

Lost AQJ65ds to whale's T8862, bloated pot and I flopped three pair but he hit his flush draw on J65dd. The whale snap quit (lol) and I left to take a dump. Felt like I was using my time wisely the way poker has been going lately...!

As bad as I’m running and I still make a crazy sick fold with AQJT3 on AQQcc versus a bet I call and the SB calls. Turn checks through. River sb leads pot and I fold. On paired boards versus a bet and two calls it’s usually going to be the overfull and two people with trips. The donking player definitely had Qx leaving AA as the most logical hand. This player isn’t the bluffing type so I discounted missed clubs and straight draws. And even though the sttaight arrived on the river no sane player is potting it when I raised pre and still have all combos of AA.

Fought like hell and lost two top sets but won KKJTss in huge 5! pot to QQ, then lost back some with dominating nf draw and pair against worse draw no pair all in on the turn, I found the check raise semi bluff all in for a dry side pot and I was actually a big favorite. Booked a $1,050 win somehow. I am proud of how I played after all the runbad today and lately.

$79,870 to go.

Got plenty of rest, the markets have almost fully rebounded from the selloff as well which was nice to see in my account. Good beats (paul van dyke, serge devant, sash!), caffeine, som exercise in a little.

I can feel my morale is low at the table every time I lose another big pot or fold another trash hand, I just want to put my head under my arms and rest it on the dirty poker felt.

I've taken plenty of beatings before in life that took a lot of endurance and mental fortitude: bullying in school, all-nighters in college and law school, coming out to my family, final exams, the bar, fighting for my clients' release from prison in the middle of a pandemic, possibly being drugged, going psychotic and being diagnosed, watching my dad die in the back of the car, getting him to the ER on time to revive him, dealing with antisocial personalities in poker, grinding for hours almost every day for years on end and running hundreds if not thousands of sims. Someone asked me the other day how I got so tough and became such a good poker player. I have a lot of experience to back it up. I can take the hits - and still fight on. I can lose pot after pot - and still play well. That's what separates me from others. I can get back up when life beats me down. It's true, not everyone can be a great professional poker player. You need a huge amount of personal fortitude.

I am running very bad and I am still breaking even or slightly winning. That tells me a lot about my abilities. I got this. It's gonna be ok! Off to work out....

Got a really good workout in, extra push ups and bar curls and jumping jacks, some of my old tae kwon do warm up routines coming in handy. The things you learn earlier in life can really help you later on. Games are getting better as the night wears on, running well so far too. Won with a wrap in a 3! pot and AA is holding up. The grind goes onÂ….

Got into 10/10…Just made a good call against a known bluffer…AATT6ds hh on 67848 runout he donked river I called for the 18% bluff possibility and won against AJ764.

Up $3,150 today, biggest was at 1/2 top top nfd against wrap fd.
Patted myself
On the back. Well done…!

Would have won at 10/10 too but I lost a couple $500 flips to pay time.

$76,720 to go.

Good to see you are still grinding, doing well, and staying positive. Good time for me to catch back up, too (I have been too busy for 2+2 for a while, unfortunately). I have been running horribly online, and your post 4866 made me feel a little better about it. I'm still winning live, at least.

Keep it up!

Thanks, I feel the tides are finally starting to turn, slowly, in the right direction. Hope things go better online for you, but IMO live is where it's at for many reasons beyond softness of the fields, like game integrity.

Got extra sleep last night, woke up late but I guess I needed the rest. I will try to play a shorter session tonight as well and reset my clock back a couple hours tomorrow to get some more sun when I wake up. For today's pre-session routine, I am feeling like lattes some light exercise and music again. It's a fine day by Opus III, Serge Devant's Fearing Love, Arty - Zara.

Eating a few more calories in my diet to put on some pounds, veggies slices of pizza and omelet with tater tots, peanut butter sandwich. If I am going to exercise more I need to increase my food intake so I don't just burn up all my muscle.

Started rough at 5/5, a bluff didn’t get through but he tanked a while so it was well-executed. Lost top set nut gutter in 3! pot to action player’s bad wrap, lost AKK nut gutter to two pair in 3! pot low spr as well to same action player. Then got lucky AKKds to AA at low bbs all in pre. I am estimating my equity very well and taking my time with my decisions despite running godawful so I am happy with my play.

I felt extremely upset so I went to the corner of the poker room and did some stretches to unwind. Feeling less tilted now.

Ran well at 5/T/25, KK held three ways and QTs freerolled TT on AQJKss and won 3/4. Got a seat at 25/25 plo finally and hoping to keep running it up here. Feel proud of my strength and wherewithal. Focused and disciplined, I can do it.

Up $6,000 tonight. AKKT9 at 25/25 won three ways was the big one. $70,760 to go. Woohoo!

Man, i got to say, the amount of growth you've shown has been awesome

just compare the OP to today's post where you are sweating a 1k loss and talking about having $200 to play with

congrats man

Thanks so much, rickroll! It's been quite the journey so far.

Woke up early today with the sun out (albeit it a little overcast) according to plan, going to play some Saturday afternoon games and see how they are. I've been getting lots of sleep lately so I felt like I could afford to get a little less today in order to reset my clock a bit. Seems like a fair trade. Glad I booked the win last night and played a shorter session, to be honest I was a little peeved towards the end when I said to run the river twice in an all in AAJT8 versus A-high which the dealer did (normally rull ring you can only run the river twice), but then when the dealer dropped the stub on the muck and it became apparent I was going to scoop with my straight, a couple of the regs said we should run the turn AND river twice since there were enough cards in the deck as someone just busted which I'd forgotten about, so we did and instead V made a boat on the second runout with his two pair and I chopped. Everyone agreed that was a fair outcome (but me!).

Anyway, going to finish my lattes and music, work out a little, and go play for a while. Goal: play disciplined the day after a big win. Sometimes it's easy to blast off the day after a nice score.

Got a good afternoon session in and then started to get tired from lack of sleep so I decided to take a nap and come back in the evening again. Up $2,500. AQT86ds and AA helped, as did AKkT4ds and AKQJ4ds. Finally upswinging again. Raaawr!

$68,203 to go.

Got a nice slowroll in against someone who angled me earlier in the session at 1/2, it was extra juicy because he was trying to slowroll me too …came back after my nap and lost a buy in at 25/25 not picking up hands and losing bottom two to top pair in a 3! pot at a low spr. We were basically flipping pre and postflop. It was a high variance spot but we were four-handed and I thought the opener (my friend) was getting out of line. Could have found a better spot. Unfortunate the hand happened right before the game broke. Grinding 10/10 now waiting for the game to come to me. Still very happy to have some upward momentum this month, long overdue.

Lost a lot back in the evening session but ended up a couple hundo on the day, lost of high variance spots. AKQJTds lost, AQT lost on QT3 to QQ spr 2, won some back with a couple AA though. For the day after a big win it’s nice not to lose a lot back. Onwards and upwards.

$70,603 left or so.

Totally agree that live is better, but no casinos in my state. I do have underground games to choose from, but not many and mainly just 1/2 NLHE. I need to try the new poker room in town (state has four, only one near my office), but I don't think it's going to be better than the underground games.

Keep up the good work. Run good!

Thank you!! Same to you dear.

Woke up with the SUN SHINING! Yippie! Want to keep this upward momentum going and keep booking wins, but let the game come to me. A couple spots last night I did not have to push it pre, AK862ds a-high k-high 4-handed sb v. btn was one, QT976ds straddle v. btn open and two calls was another. I've gotten into a pattern of pushing even razor thin edges or realizing my equity with an overlay from dead calling money and I discussed it with a friend and since our edge is so high postflop these spots are probably not necessary to make the most money possible. The way I look at it also, denying equity preflop is huge in a game where equities run so close, and pushing thin edges while not hugely +EV is at least good for our image and more likely to get us back into a game and give us action with our big hands. But probably better for my mental game and BR to not get it in pre as often as I have which has been impossible with a short stack in the bigger games. Something to work on. Short stacking has become a comfort zone over the years for me though.