2024 Live Poker Challenge ($1/$2-$2/$5) IN CANADA

OKAY OKAY OKAY! Just played my first $1/$3 live session of the year.

IÂ’m not unhappy with how I played, definitely some room for improvement,

So hereÂ’s the situation, villain is pretty loose. Older Asian guy who I watched rebuy twice in an hour (by calling and asking his wife for money lol). Called an all-in preflop out of position with 9Ts, open raises from every position pretty often with a wide range of hands (If i were to guess IÂ’d say he was at like 35-40% VPIP). Bet sizing I noticed he would open raise to $20-$25 whenever he was entering pots without total junk (he entered pots with junk a lot). My image at this point is pretty tight and slightly aggressive (raised every pot where I took the initiative, had put in a 3bet, and had limped a few times from the bb), we were about 2.5 hours into the session and I hadnÂ’t really gotten involved in any big pots, was down to about $250 of my initial $300 buy in by the time we reached this hand.

Anyway hereÂ’s the hand:

Effective stack size $250 (~83 bb), Hero dealt 6s6d in the CO.

Preflop:
Villain raises to $20 from UTG. Folds around to Hero in the CO. Hero thinks for a bit then calls $20. Button and blinds fold.

Flop: 6c Js 8h
UTG c-bets $25, hero calls.

Turn: 6c Js 8h Jh
UTG checks, hero tanks then makes it $50. UTG calls.

River: 6c Js 8h Jh 2c
UTG checks, hero tanks then makes it $65. UTG shoves all in, hero calls.

FML right? I was behind his set on the flop, but on the flop I wasnÂ’t really super worried about a set. I imagined he could have drawing hands like 79s, 9Ts, 57s, AJ, KJ, QJÂ… obviously 88, and JJ were in his range too but I feel like him checking the turn was in line with his play over the last hour where he would fire a bullet on the flop and then gave up on the turn, or call with **** hands until the river. When he didnÂ’t give up I imagined that he might have had a set of Jacks, or a hand like AA, KK, or QQ.

Anyway, I lost, first live session of my 2024 goal ends -$300.

BUT the silver lining, is I was playing at Great Canadian Casino poker room in Toronto. The game was packed, like 10+ tables of $1/$3 and a lot of degens drinking and playing super loose. I think this is a game I can beat even despite the 10% rake up to $20.

Work before next session:
-Continue studying (poker math that matters, the poker blueprint)
-Just bought Splitsuits Math and Preflop Workbook will be working through this

Next session:
-Probably going to play 1 more time before the end of January (Casino Niagara, or Great Canadian Casino Poker Room again)

2024 LIVE CASH RESULTS:
-$300 (-100bb)

On to the next one!

Hey, thanks for sharing!

It appears to be a tough situation, and sometimes these unfortunate outcomes are part of the game.
It's important to maintain a positive mindset and focus on making optimal decisions in the long run.

Wishing you the best of luck in your future sessions, and may the tables turn in your favor!

Yup totally agree, overall I think I played pretty solid. And it was fun getting back into a live poker room.

Looking forward to continuing my 2024 journey 😎

In!, GL

Thanks 😎

And yes it is but I gotta say the game seemed super soft. Probably dude to the close proximity to Toronto lot of people looking for a place to slowly gamble away some money playing poker on a Friday night.

I understand profit isn't the primary motivation, but that's some soulcrushing rake. Why not play online instead and work on your game? Once you improve enough online you can play higher live where rake is less extortionate.

He has the unfortunate (poker) bad luck of living in Ontario where both live and online gambling are restricted.

dont waste your time playing live homie. ontario went regulated you can play online against only people from ontario (who all suck obv) i. There is not one Ontario pro who makes more playing at these scammy casino games then online. dont give your money to the unbeatable casino games give it to me

Honestly, I enjoy playing live. Other than MTT’s online I really don’t enjoy online poker as much as I used to.

The table talk, banter, and also being able to see the actual players at the table all elevate the live experience for me.

Also, I feel the game is so much more dynamic live vs online.

Yup, online is now ring fenced in Ontario. Pretty pathetic, less than 1000 players on most sites most days across all games.

And HUDs don’t work anymore.

I do have an account on ACR but with all the bs happening with them lately, I can’t really be bothered to play online other than just having a couple hundred bucks on a few sites to splash around when I’m bored.

glglglgl

You put in any volume at Brantford in 2023?

“Not one pro who makes more playing love than online” seems like a bit of a ridiculous assumption.

Rake sucks, yes that’s true, but the games are still pretty soft. And this isn’t my source of income, it’s not as big a deal for me as long as I can still end up with a profit at the end of the year I’m happy.

Nope, but it’s on my list of places to try. I’ll probably play there, blue heron, and casino Rama a few times this year but there pretty far.

Woodbine casino is a lot more convenient for days where I just want to go play after work on a Thursday or Friday night.

Back almost 12 months after the post and surprise surprise I didn't keep up with my goal.

Long story sort my fiance left me (non-poker related) and life took over.

HOWEVER, I'm back, new amazing girlfriend, life is back on track and I managed to play casual home cash games over the year (made a sweet octagon poker table for hosting home games) and just actually played my first session at Playground poker ($1-$2 NLHE)

This first session at Playground was pretty uneventful, ended up finishing the 8h session down $104.

Notable hands:
- -$80 hand with AQs in position, bet 3bb preflop. flop 9-9-Q, bet flop, bet turn 9-9-Q-2, check check river 9-9-Q-2-7opponent held 89
-+$100 hand... Once every hour, on the 15th minute of the hour, I decided to 3 bet preflop with any holding just to spice things up a bit while trying to minimize losses when I miss the flop. Did this with J-4o on the 4th hour of my session, heads up against a guy who was kinda pissed at me for sucking out on him a few hands prior. I end up hitting a set on the flop and take in a decent $100 pot and got to have a little laugh with myself playing against this guy fuming for the next 2 hours lol

...turning this into my 2024-2025 poker journey lol

Work before next session:
-hosting a $0.25/$0.50 cash game at the end of November
-get back into doing some math studying

Next session:
-Home game at the end of November (8 players, $0.25-$0.50)

2024 LIVE CASH RESULTS:
- -$404

First home cash game completed!

We played $0.25/$0.50 for about 4 hours. I ended up netting dead even after the session.

Was a group of friends all interested in playing poker more regularly.

I think as expected, number of hands per hour was the biggest problem, felt I was “beating” the game based on the spots I found myself in, just didn’t see enough hands.

Will be hosting another in a few weeks.

Thinking about picking up auto shuffler, any suggestions that won’t cost me $3-4k?

2024 live cash results: -404