Back to Pro Status - Las Vegas 2/5

I have posted a hand from my latest session if anyone wants to opine:
https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/170/l...

One of my strengths as a pro is that I'm very disciplined about treating this as a job. I take my work hours seriously. So here's the schedule I have set out for myself:
Thursday - 4 hours
Friday - 4 hours
Saturday - 4 hours
Sunday - 4 hours

That's 16 hours per week which is both inline with my A-game stamina (at the present time) and allows me plenty of time for my main business (which I mostly run by phone anyways).

Eventually, I will get up to 20 hours/week but I need to build up to that.

Looking forward to following along this thread! Seems like you got some decent feedback in that strat thread. Interesting spot for sure.

Thanks, appreciate the good wishes.

I try to not put myself into hands where I get stuck very often, so I don't know how often I'll be posting notable plays. But, yes, the hand I posted definitely had me thinking for a little bit and that's why I decided to put it on 2p2.

Sounds fun, good luck. What are you doing to improve your skill at the game?

That's a great question. I'm going to give you the best answers I can, although I realize these might be esoteric:

• 1. I believe that the Bellagio 2/5 still remains within the general parameters of "bet when checked to, fold when raised" and other writings by people like Ed Miller (he's always been my favorite poker author). So that is my guiding light until I collect enough information to tell me otherwise. I'm open to adjusting in the future, but it's important to have a guiding principle in the short-term.
  
• 2. My mindset is completely different than most other times that I've played poker. I'm a little older, a little wiser and with a little more of a bank behind me. The money, literally, does not matter to me any more. I believe that this also leads to better play because your emotions about the game and any particular hand are just "muted".
  
• 3. Annie Duke wrote a book about separating your process from your decisions and examining all decisions, even the good ones. I've heard other pros talk about this also but I didn't appreciate it until I read Duke's book. So I'm focusing on my internal, post-session study of all hands, including the winners, to think about my sessions.
  

I should clarify that in my previous post, the reference to Ed Miller is completely intentional. Again, I'm trying to specialize specifically on the games in Vegas and I think Miller understands those games. As an example, I've been watching HHP and respect Goone but he's an LA guy, and perhaps even a Hustler specialist. So I'm going to give his advice a little less weight than I would people like Miller or Neeme (when he reports on Vegas). I'm very focused on the Bellagio 2/5

Started the work week with a session last night. Here's something else that I'm doing differently this time around with my pro play:

• No hats
  
• No bags
  
• Keep my roll in bills in my wallet, nothing special
  
• No app to track records
  
• No hype song while driving to The Strip
  
• No superstitions about "lucky shoes" or whatever
  

I'm greatly simplifying my approach to each session because it takes the pressure off. I realized that all the rituals that I thought were getting me ready for a session were really just things to obsess over. That's just not healthy. I've matured from that place and I just take a casual approach to how I set myself up for each session. Just make sure I have enough money in my wallet and go.

Now, I know that some of you are going to be concerned about records. Again, that just became something for me to obsess over. All the stats & graphs become addicting. But, of course, I want to be honest with myself about my abilities. So I keep it simple - I know how much I started each week with, I don't use my roll for anything other than poker, and I know I'm disciplined about 16 hours per week. What else do I need to know? This also helps me take a more long term view. I try to not think about the session results; I know what my work week is, I know what I started with. Now I just go out and try to make sure I have more than I started with.

Biggest leak in my game? The massage girls in the poker room. I'm old, I like a good back rub

The work week is now over. I made about $1,000 this week over 16 hours (4, 4 hour sessions). I'm pretty happy with that result but trying to not get too high or too low with the swings. Here's some observations from the week:

• I'm pretty happy with the way I'm playing. I made a couple of tough river calls where the line the villain took an awkward line to the river. I'm developing more of a "gut feel" for situations like that there if the line feels awkward - and I have some showdown value, of course - I'm usually forcing myself to call. I can think of 2 situations this week where that paid off in a pretty good way.
  
  
• Saturday and Sunday gave me some swingy sessions. If I think about the in session numbers, I was down $500 - $600 at some points. I try to not feel to bad at those moments and just focus on getting my hours in. I have 4 hours as a sweet spot because I usually find that with my play style, I can usually ride out variance in that amount of time. So, it was a little mentally challenging to stay engaged, but I just kept at it and the game came around in the way I needed it to.
  
  
• At some point, I'll probably post more about my general play strategy, but for now I feel like it's working just fine. I've had to make some minor adjustments for the 2/5 level and for the time that I've been away from the game, but I still feel like poker is 100% beatable in Las Vegas and the games remain pretty solid.
  
  
• I'm not someone that changes tables too frequently but I'm proud of myself for doing that this week. I was sitting at a table with way too many regs and I was probably outside the top 3 players at the table, so why stay? I put in for a seat change and it completely changed my outlook and my results on the session.
  

Finally, for my results, as I said, I'm not trying to be too concerned about them. I'm taking a long term approach to this and it's all supplemental income for about the next year until I can get my main business to a mature state. The way I see, I could be taking other jobs to supplement my income. For example, Clark County School District pays $110 to be a substitute teacher for a day (I have my license and everything). So as long as I'm pulling that from poker on a daily basis, I'm still winning.

Today - Thursday - is the start of the work week. 4 days and 16 hours of play coming up. Goal is to make $1,000 this week.