1/3 Grinding and Bankroll

Last couple sessions have been slow, ran AQ into AK btn v aggressive bb, also a bluff didn’t get through but I got a respectfully long tank on the river at least (with an overpair no less).

Have an oral argument in an appeal later today. I learned we have a tough judge who isn’t that sympathetic towards our clients so I’ll just make the best of it.

I was quite bored and unhappy yesterday at the table, it’s just harder to sit in a smaller game at this point. The amount of money I am playing for normally is not important to me as I’m overroled for the games below the high stakes ones which can lead to boredom but also allows me to play fearlessly.

Appeal argument went better than expected but I’m still not optimistic about the outcome given who the judge is. At least he made some remarks that indicated he saw something in my arguments. We’ll have to wait and see what he decides later this week.

In the meantime I’m relieved to be done with it as the prep was pretty stressful and I had a last minute panic attack that one of my main arguments was unsupported by the law but my concerns were thankfully unfounded.

I played a short session after work but quickly got uninterested and took a break to eat. Now well fed I am back at it. 10/10 plo is running but it’s a full game today.

Money isn’t enough to make someone happy.

5/10/25 session went well flopped top two against top top or an overpair and got the max, QQ all in pre got a double, and AA got two streets from a smaller overpair. On track for a very good month. Left to get sleep rather than play 10/10 plo and anyway the biggest action player left.

Don’t you go on suicide watch every time you lose one full buy-in at the big games (or 5 or 10 short buys for you since you short stack)? The math ain’t mathing when you act like you a high stakes balla on here

What can I say losing $10, 000 still hurts. I’m only human and not super rich either. But I still get bored at smaller stakes. Those two things are not mutually exclusive at all.

Won a few grand at hold 'em and lost more at the mix, made some mistakes got trips v trips in at big o and raised myself out of a potential win at 2-7td for no reason at all, just should never be raising in that spot and always calling with my hand. Decided I was not playing well and quit, got the 10/25/50 straddle going and made some back before calling it a night.

Are you still enjoying poker after all these years? I struggle at times with live poker especially and it’s not just the poker (although prolonged losing/breakeven stretches really suck) but just more so the other icky parts of live poker like the casino atmosphere and the jerks and lowlifes that you commonly run into. Lately I’ve been sacrificing better games live just to grind online to not deal with any of that stuff.

I’m hanging on for the money which is still thankfully very good. I do enjoy it less than I used to though for the reasons you mentioned. I have also made friends to balance out the negative personalities.

Judging by my hospital assignments next month, my boss agreed to my request to assign me more community hospital work, which is fantastic! I have a couple cases to wrap up in stateside work but then hopefully I’ll be home free and can just focus on the community hospital side moving forward. I will have a lot on my plate to keep me occupied but hopefully the predictability of my schedule and doing work I feel comfortable doing at this point will make up for that. All in all I am quite pleased with this development.

Did well yesterday, lost a little at hold em for a change as the games weren’t that good last night, but ran well at plo and made a couple grand on the day. Lost mid set nfd to top set but got max value with nf against set and lower flush. Also won with AKT92ds on AJ38ssdd but my nfd to top set and worse draw.

Played a late session, ran well at hold 'em 5/10/25/50 and a little 25/50/100 and whatever at plo. Did not get into 10/10plo when game was good. I have really enhanced my hold 'em game a lot lately pushing boundaries for myself and it's working pretty well so far. I 4! A3o and also won at showdown which was very good for my image as I have a 4! bluffing range people saw. I think I made $1, 500 tonight which is fine.

Played an afternoon session won a little then had a date in the city at a gay Italian restaurant for a nice change of pace. Now PM sesh. Gonna crush.

Gross

He's a break even fugazi.

I hope TheFranz is banned.

I don’t see his posts anymore. Lol. I don’t know if I banned him or ignored him.

Last night got to play 25/50/100 a little before the game broke, got QQ all in pre for 50bb against AKo and chopped, otherwise an uneventful session. At 5/10/25 a semibluff didn’t get there and AQ got an unfortunate river raise on an A high flop for a little runbad. At least it’s sunny today.

Sipping on lattes on a sunny couch is the best!

Played 25/50/100 hold 'em upon request of fun player from out of town, we even got a round of plo4 going every dealer change, was cold for the longest time and lost all the $300 waterfalls for time until finally got a good spot TT T22 bvb versus action player I trapped obviously he bet twice and I c/r river he folded pretty fast. Then 3! AKo sb v. btn v. bb and looser bb cold call, AJ68K runout b $350 /b $1050 /j $2000 get the crying call on the river, he claimed he had AJ (maybe so). Lost a little at 5/10/25 AK lost to 77 as a short stack and plo, but made around $2, 500 on the day anyway.

Sounds like an Allan hand lol

Believe it or not it wasn’t him. Someone random. But also, don’t use real names!
Years ago I did that absentmindedly and people knew who I was talking about and got upset with me. I had to go back and clean up the thread and use a pseudonym instead.

Currently enjoying a coconut latte with almond milk on the couch in the sun from my rise and grind mug. Someone told me good hourlies at 5/10/25 are $250-$300. All I know is I’m only playing 1/2 plo5 if the hold em game is really atrocious or if I’m waiting for a seat in the game. Financially that makes the most sense for me now.

Tonight won at the 20/40 mix but ran TT into AA short handed for 60bb at 5/10/25, made it back and then someone wanted to play 25/50 so I organized the game for him which lasted a couple hours until he left to play in the pits and everyone quit. Played very well and made a few grand in a short period there and was not dealt a single premium hand. May call it an early night and start my day early tomorrow on the holiday. Playing bigger games takes a lot more energy and I feel drained.

I feel like I played at a new level today. Very well on point and focused, probably some of my best poker ever. Very proud of that, I even felt calm during a big bluff for a change.

Got to play 10/10/50/100 plo after a little 5/10/25 where I shipped JJ pre and scooped versus 77.

Was card dead and started losing all the $300 waterfalls at plo every dealer change so started stuck pretty quickly. The action was off the hook with the fun players shipping it a lot making the game more like 50/100/500/1000 so the waiting game was on for the remaining players to pick up good hands and go with them. A seasoned mixed game pro got AA a couple times and scooped some big pots sadly for the rest of us, people started needling me for folding too much and I caved and played crappy KK for $600 and folded in the flop, I told them they pret pressured me. (Better for my image in the moment not to limp fold.)

I finally got dealt AJJT8ds and iso’d the gambler’s open, to $900, got it heads up and held. Later got mediocre AA and iso’d him again to $1975 and held for around $1, 000. Made an ambitious call in a single raised pot against him on J97r with AQQ54 at spr .25 and got lucky against J9 on a KK runout. Gambler called me a silent killer. Also witnessed a cooler of 88 versus 33 on 63238 for a $30, 000 pot too. The game broke not long after and I attempted to play 10/25 again but didn’t have it in me. Ended up profiting around $4, 200 on the evening.

Tonight played three capped pots in the big mix got unlucky in the first two but scooped the second with KK632 in big o. Lost the other two in 2-7 dramaha with a pat T9 against drawing hands and a smooth 8 draw to a lesser draw. After making most of my losses back the game had died down and I quit to play 20/40 where I lost with top two three ways in big o capped pot, getting tired to losing in the mix for one day went to plo and made a few hundred back. $20, 000 month already, counting my blessings.

Wrapped up plo on a positive note and made back my losses from earlier in the session despite being hit by a gutshot with AAQQ9ds on 842 versus KJT76 at a low spr in a 3! pot. Made a great call versus the naked A against someone who routinely bluffs with just a straight and a flush blocker on the river as well.

The same guy from out of town wanted to play 25/50 so the floor opened the game for us. Unfortunately it wasn’t a very good game. I did get AA all in pre once for $8, 000 and chopped and scooped with QQ but otherwise didn’t have many good spots and didn’t really feel it and quit after a couple hours to grind plo. I did make a couple mistakes this session at 25/50 and didn’t feel like I was playing my best. At 5/10/25 got the double with 74s v 85s on 8737 when v shipped over my check raise on the turn for $2, 300.

I learned that a nice man who played 20/40 regularly died of cancer recently. He was always a cool cat. He once fell off the high limit section and I helped him up. We always had good vibes after that. Sad to hear he passed.