1/3 Grinding and Bankroll

More pictures brother! Great stuff

Thanks man. If you couldn’t tell from the photos, I feel pretty happy with my life right now. The past two days I spent quality time with people close to me and my dog and it reminded me the importance of poker / life balance. It made my playing experience so much more enjoyable too. Even after toxic pro told me f u. (He didn’t post his straddle after missing it even though he forces everyone else to post the straddle. I called him out for it. He was not pleased.)

I’m looking forward to more enjoying life and less grind. I only played 4.5 hours yesterday and today will be maybe 5.

I like my friend’s hoodie. It’s true!

A much more reasonable schedule IMO

Couple capped range bluffs got called towards the end of my session then made it back and then some with AKQT3 pre and A5532 854 my fd against two 76s. Got good sleep, winning well this month again which is great. Got a little wardrobe pick me up for the first time in months too to treat myself over the holidays, my sister got me a sweater and I got her some soaps she likes and a donation to her favorite animal shelter. We did a marvel Photo Booth shoot together too that puts our faces on a comic strip. I also got a pair of dark pants in a style I like that I had wanted for a while but was putting off until I started winning more at poker. Good times!

Now lattes music (Florence and the machine, my love) massage rowing and play.

* in best Rodney Dangerfield voice *

"I don't get no respect! The city names a street after me... and they spell my name wrong!"

G*loosenstie*G

Nice photos I’ve found randomly.

Wrapped up on another W, not many tough spots. Did blast once with A2s in limped straddled pot over a btn iso I just shipped hoping to get it through versus some K high hands or worse but he had 99 and I didn’t get there twice. Next hand we get it in AA v. his 99 again and I scoop though.

A- for table presence. Someone did this weird thing where they put out a “straddle” after looking at their cards and I asked if it was a straddle. Dealer said no. At that point the player took back his bet even though it should be considered a limp. No one objected. At this point I quit the game.

Made some hands at plo and got paid. Having a good month. Around $80 an hour right now.

At the mix made an 8/8 in badeucy that was good for half, lost with an 87 draw in single draw and a T8 in the same.

Lattes music (linger by the cranberries) massage and rowing and play later.

Played an afternoon session, ran good after a tough start with AK542ds called a 4! and lost but ran well elsewhere in all ins. Got tacos with a friend, chatted, someone bought us a drink as well. Gonna play a little longer but honestly could just call it a session now I’m already up a few grand. Up to over $100 an hour this month around where I want to be.

Lost some back after taco dinner and a margarita on the house with a friend, AQQT3ds at 2 spr 983r in 3! pot as the preflop aggressor, but then went on a little heater winning QJT97ds to AA pre and KT987ds in 3! pot on T76r to action gambler who shouts “jump Judy!” when he wins a hand and asks for a rebate when I beat him (which I give to him, it would seem cruel to say no to someone like him). Good little heater lately, hopefully keep it going forever…lol, at least for the rest of the year .. (poker gods didn’t hear that).

One hand I called flop and turn and river completed most obvious straight draw, I started stacking chips to bluff donk jam and button grabs chips looks at me to get my reaction potentially and then jams out of turn effectively preventing me from bluffing. He says he didn’t want me to bluff him. WTF..I asked him not to angle me anymore. Otherwise had good table presence.

Lattes with water music (Coldplay, high speed), then rowing and massage and play.

More big good changes in my life coming up soon! Will be good for quality of life.

The plo was pretty dreadful tonight so I played 20/40 mix for some fun. So far slow day overall. Did lose AJ955ss on QT5ss at plo to the nfd.

Lost some at 5/5 before getting tired, had a good morning routine, now running bad at 1/2 plo top two lost to overpair nfd and top pair k fd lost to two pair, also went a little off the reserve with QTT87 with a lot of dead money overlay. Letting the game come to me now.

Made a comeback with bad aces one hand and good aces another hand…and no one else had aces either hand so it wasn’t so bad. Stuck only a little now but it was much worse earlier. Grinding on….

Bluff got called, set cracked by wrap all in ott, and then lost a bunch of other pots it’s sorta a blur. Not playing great but also running meh in my higher ev spots, so it’s not a good session. Someone’s redraw got there against mine as well. Got KQJ76 in at spr 2.5 heads up against a whale in a 3! Pot on Q85r and he had a set.

I was talking to my friend about variance in plo versus mix and it’s higher in limit games apparently. Too much luck in plo. Wish I could always run good and play well, sigh.

Gonna hunker down and try to play solid for the rest of the session but I’m getting tired.

Edit: started making a comeback at a better game. table change ftw!

Doesn’t help that today I folded a little too much equity on a couple turns in very marginal spots that were break even or barely plus ev and I got there on both rivers…!!!! Both times I had in the low 20% equity and would have rivered the winner …fml.

That’s wild if variance is even higher in limit than plo! At some point you might as well go to the parking lot and flip quarters.

Don’t we all wish to always run good? That’s what keeps the degens in the game 😀

Don’t forget about doggo!

I have not forgotten Olive, she is back with my parents.

decent pre-session routine, slept in after a longer session. Had a dream voodoo b colluder wife slapped me in the face at the casino and she got banned.

Going to aim for perfection for the rest of the year. An impossible task but if I play even close to that I will be very happy and hopefully my results will show.

I was reading today about maintaining peak performance for athletes as well as poker players. It’s obvious I’m doing a lot correct already like sleep diet and exercise. Setting short- and long-term goals as well. I need to focus on the process and not the results as much and not worry about the money so much though. I have a group of friends who I can reach out to for advice and they are my coaches in a way. I can lean on them for advice when I think I am going astray. I also can visualize success more and have a lucky mindset, remembering when good things happen to me. I pat myself on the back after a good win sometimes, for example.

All in all I think I am doing a lot of things to help me perform well and my results show. Best year ever close to double last year’s profits too. I know from all the pots I’ve lost in various ways that I can play even better.

For next year I want to keep up the good habits I have cultivated this year, lean on my network of poker enthusiasts for advice and hold myself to a very high standard of play.

Speaking of good habits, I haven’t been eating enough lately because I don’t want to spend money on food. I feel like a chicken with black bean sauce dish….

I applied one of the techniques I read about today - visualization - and it worked! I visualized someone’s stack coming to mine. It happened to be colluder wife’s, of course. And I later stacked her AA v. AA all in pre. Hooray!

Ran meh towards the end of the night, lost with AJJ86 on 754r T ott to J9987 gs and runner runner backdoor wrap, then lost AQJT6hh on A94Qhh to QQ at 5/5/25 against action gambler who could easily have worse value but this time showed up with a strong hand.

Given how the end of this year has gone my outlook for next year is not as strong as I would like. My results may be more on par with last year. Will see how the games evolve and how well I run in bigger games especially.

I played extremely well yesterday. Didn’t win a ton but it’s about the process not the results. Table presence was excellent too.

Lattes music and massage and rowing then play.

Image: by Brett Butz.

Rough start to session top set nfd lost ott to two people with straights, AA cracked twice, lost to toxic pro, then someone I get along with asked me if I was ever going to get married/if married now and claimed no one liked me. But then a bunch of people I walked by today in the poker room said hi to me and I knew what he said wasn’t true. I have my detractors, sure not everyone likes me, I’ve had my beefs with a few people over the years, but like someone said a lot of people know me here by now and that means some feelings one way or another. “People either love me or they hate me.”

Anyway it feels nice to get that off my chest I was really out of the zone for a while there. Back in flow now.

As long as you like yourself, that is all that matters. Who cares what others think?

Glad you're back in the flow. Stay positive!

Yeah I could tell I was very upset about the action player’s marriage question and his claim that no one else likes me (but he added he defends me and does like me) threw me off. Of note toxic pro was playing and god knows what vicious comments he has made behind my back to others by now. Good psychological warfare from the action player. Thanks for the reminder. Just gotta remember the people who do like me (there’s a lot of them!!) and ignore the noise.

I came back after winning at 1/2 and everyone left at the 5/5 was stuck, the big winner (the guy who likes me) had quit, and I got to play my super A game in a good headspace with a bunch of stuck players. Needless to say I ran well and played well and won.

Lattes music now, play later.

Was running really well made a good call with top two in a 3! pot…been working on calling with strong hands on river…then it all went downhill really fast losing top set to mid set nfd open ender all in ott and then KKT77 all in pre against two aces for a very large side pot and smaller main pot. My read was spot on and I got punished for it. Grinding it back now.

Edit: just got unstuck A7543hh K82hh A ott for wrap too and hit my nut flush otr three ways. Raaaawr! Iced mocha now to power through the final stretch of my session.